Ask The Pros
Pregnancy Photos
Pregnancy Calendar
Birth Plans
Birth Stories
Bookstore
Boy or Girl
Cesareans
Chat Room
Complications
Doulas
Educators
Episiotomy
FAQs
Feeding Baby
Fertility
Finding a Class
Health
Interactive
Labor
Message Board
Monitoring
Newborns
Newsletter
Postcards
Postpartum
Pregnancy
Reviews/Awards
Search
VBAC
Week by Week
Who We Are

Jorden's Birth

Having recently getting a computer and finding this site, I am quite a few years late on the telling of my daughters birth. First of all, she was con- ceived 2 months after I had a miscarrage. My husband, Gary, and I were a little scared that I had gotten pregnant so soon after the miscarrage, but as soon as I was able to hear the babys heartbeat I knew that we'd be ok. I was due on April Fools Day!!! No way! I was not going to have my baby on that day. My first child was a week early, so I hoped for the same with this baby. I tried all through my pregnancy to convince my husband that I wanted to have this baby at home. My first birth experience was very quick and with the exception of some higher than normal bloodloss, it was uncomplicated. Gary was not going for the home birth at all. I am fortunate that the womens health center that I go to had really great mid- wifes that I felt comfortable with them all.

April 1 came and went. Thank God that I didn't have her on my due date. My oldest sister was due the day before me, and we were now in a race to see who would deliver first (she lives in a different state). On Friday, April 6, I had an appointment with my midwife, and she did quite a long and extensive internal exam. She stripped my mucus plug and surrounding stuff in hopes to bring on labor. If I didn't go into labor by the next day I was to report back for a non stress test. My mother in law (also my best buddy) and I decided to buy a cement birdbath on sale at the local Payless. We were able to load it into the pickup by ourselves and drove home. Needless to say, as we were unloading the top part of the birdbath, Mom threw her back out and couldn't move. I managed to unload both the pieces of the bird- bath by myself, and helped Mom into the house. I called my husband to tell him about his mom, and he told me that he was headed to the doctors office because he had just dropped a transmission on his hand, and he thought it was broken. He's a mechanic, and we own our business out of town. I got Mom to lay down, and called her doctor who called in a prescription to relax her muscles. I finally was able to gather my 3 1/2 year old from a friends house and head on home. ( We had been at Moms house unloading the birdbath) My husbands hand was not broken, but he had a splint on it to keep him from bending his wrist. I was hoping all the excitement would throw me into labor, but no such luck.

At about 2 AM on April 7, I woke up with a feeling that I should get ready for labor. I had not had any contractions, but just felt strange. I did the pubic hair clip, clipped my toenails, gave myself an enema (which didn't do a thing), and took a shower. I started to have some very mild contractions while in the shower, but didn't wake my husband because he wouldn't have believed me. I have a high tolerance to pain, and no one really can tell when I'm hurting. I tried to rest, but couldn't, so I called the hospital to tell them that I was having 60 second con- tractions about 5 minutes apart. I could talk through the contractions, so the nurse told me not to rush on into town ( we live about !5 minutes away), and to call back when things picked up. I woke my husband at about 6:30 and told him that I had been having contractions every 4 or 5 minutes but that I wasn't having much pain. I wanted to drive to his parents house to be closer to the hospital just in case. I was having some pretty long and somewhat painful contractions about 7:45am. I sat on Moms couch while Mom, Dad, and Gary were all in the kitchen having coffee, and telling each other their plans for the day. Excuse me?? I'm in labor here!!!! I was having a contraction, and then I'd immediatly fall asleep as soon as it was over. They were not convinced that I was in active labor. I felt in such control of my breathing and the way I handled each contraction. I wanted to get to the hospital to get the dreaded monitor strip done, urine sample etc... out of the way so I could enjoy this experience. I called the hospital at 8:20 AM, and told them that I was on my way up there, and they should call the midwife on call to let her know that I would deliver within an hour or two. So Gary (with his hand in a splint), Mom ( walking slowly and sort of bent over) and I headed to the hospital. Just as we parked I had the first really major pain. I immediatly told my husband not to let me wimp out and have drugs. I never wanted any pain medication what so ever, but all of the sudden I was so overwhelmed by pain. My water broke as I walked through the front doors and I proceeded to leave a big puddle on the lobby floor, and a river all the way to the birthing room. Lynne, the nurse on duty, asked for a urine sample, and all I could do was moan and chuckle a "Yeah, right". I had a hard time changing into the sexy hospital gown because my pant were soaked and I started to shake. Gary was of little use because it has dawned on him that we are going to have a baby soon. I manage to change, and as I'm being helped up on to the bed (a homemade bed that comes apart to allow you to labor and deliver in the same bed) I have a MAJOR contraction. Lynne checks me and tells me that I am totally dialated, but I can't push be- cause the midwife is on her way, but won't be there for at least 15 minutes. I looked at the clock, and it is 8:35, and I told Lynne that I would give her 10. I managed to literally pant like a dog for 10 minutes, and then I started to push. Lynne told me to go ahead because she had always wanted to deliver a baby. Meanwhile poor Gary is frantic, Mom can't sit down, nor stand well because of her back. She was determined to be there, though. I pushed twice and Frannie, the midwife, ran in, washed her hands and turned as my babys head was bulging out of me. My husband was down at the foot of the bed with his splinted hand outstretched just in case the baby came before the midwife was ready. The OB on call came in and tried to take over, but I told him that I didn't want him to deliver this baby. I think I hurt his feelings, but I like the midwives better. Frannie didn't have time to put on her gloves, or sit down before 7 lb. 6 oz Jorden Lynne Lancaster made her way into the world. I didn't tear a bit, and was elated at having another girl. Gary wanted a son, but was glad that it was over, and he didn't have to catch the baby. It was quite a humorous sight to see him hopping around at the foot of the bed telling Frannie to hurry. I am telling the OB to take a hike, and Mom is moaning in pain and asking for drugs for herself. After the cord was cut, Jorden was assessed and given to Gary to hold while I tried to deliver the placenta. My contractions were nearly nonexistant. I was massaging my uterus to try to stimulate it to contract. I did some nipple stimulation on my own which brought on a contraction, and I pushed the placenta out with the one push. Frannie was impressed with my knowledge of both ways of stimulation to get the contractions to return. By the way, Jorden was born at 9:03 am, just over 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital. I told my husband I would have been better off to have a home birth. I could have delivered her myself!!! After about 30 minutes of cuddling, I allowed Gary to take Jorden to get really cleaned up. I took that opportunity to take my own shower and do my hair. I called work and let them know that I wanted to show off my daughter to anyone who wanted to come see her. Gary brought our 3 year old a little later, and she took the best picture of me and Jorden that we have. I was ready to go home by noon, but Frannie recommended that I stay the night. I figured that since I had such good insurance, I may as well stay. Big mistake. I couldn't get any rest. There was like 4 laboring women that night, and one was of a woman in labor with a baby that was going to be stillborn. She was alone, and I finally asked the nurse if I could go sit with the woman who was having the still- born. The nurse took Jorden to the nursery, and I sat with the poor woman.

She didn't speak any English, and I didn't speak Spanish, but I think I helped her a bit until one of her friends was able to make it to the hospital to help her. I never found out what she had, or if she was ok afterwards.

Now Jorden is 8, and her sister is 11 1/2. I don't plan on any more kids, but am still amazed at the whole childbirth thing. By the way, my sister had a boy 7 hours after I had Jorden. Her labor was nearly as quick as mine. I guess I should warn my daughters when they are older.

Val Lancaster
Jorden's Sister