Birth Story: July 21, 2006

After months fearing the nearly two-hour drive to the hospital while in labor and worrying about giving birth in the Wal-Mart parking lot, our birth story couldn't have been better.
On July 20, four days before my due date, my water broke around 6 a.m. But without any contractions it took me half the day to be absolutely certain that's what had happened. After a tentative call to our doctor we were headed to labor and delivery at Memorial Regional Hospital in Richmond. But, we had time to kill. Scott got a latte. We stopped at the store for dog food. At home, Scott took a shower and shaved. I doubled checked around the house for essentials - cell phone chargers, exercise ball and Propel (flavored energy drink). We made phone calls and arrangements for Justin. We stopped at the full service gas station. We stopped again so I could use the ladies room in Tappahannock.
At one point, Scott turned to me and said, "I can't believe this is really happening.... it seems surreal."
I said, "We're lucky it's happening like this. We'd never have our sh-- together otherwise."
At 2:30 pm we finally arrived at the hospital and our room was waiting for us, confirming - if there was any doubt still lingering - that after 39 weeks we were indeed having a baby.
By 3:30, following monitoring and an exam, our midwife Brenda Brickhouse confirmed that NOTHING was happening. My water had broken, I was having tiny contractions, but I was still only 1.5 cm dilated and 80 percent effaced. Time to jump start the engine.
They started me on a pitocin drip and we watched a Netflix (Season 1 of the show 24) on Scott's computer. Apparently my pain tolerance is pretty high. The nurse increased the dose one notch every 20 minutes and I kept watching the dvd until, about 3 hours later, I popped out of bed in pain. They had the drip cranked up to a 12 and the contractions were one on top of another. I tried to walk around the room. I slowed danced with Scott to Allison Kraus. I bounced around on my exercise ball.
By 8 pm, I was wearing down and worried about Scott. He was freezing (the hospital is kept at walk-in cooler temps) and starving (the cafeteria had closed). Yet he was handling my demands with aplomb.
I need a massage. No, I need a hot pad. No, now take that off and massage my back. Lower. Okay, hot pad. Give me water. The nurses, incidentally, were impressed with our preparedness: the Propel, the ball, the rice sock (for a heat pad), the movies and music. Of course, we had all day to get ready.
My contractions were coming on hard and fast - about 2 minutes apart and one minute long. I could barely recover between them. My body began uncontrollably shaking and - to put it delicately - I lost everything in my stomach several times. I couldn't talk.
I was only 3 cm dilated and I foresaw a long night ahead for everyone and knew we would all need our strength later, and so I asked for some relief.
Relief came in the form of Dr. Kim, a blessed angel from Heaven with a very long needle. My midwife hugged me and he injected my with an epidural. They turned off the pitocin.
My midwife told me she would come back to check on me at 12:30 am, hoping for 6 or 7 cm at that point, but by 11 pm I was feeling my contractions again and by midnight I was emptying my stomach of the popsicle I had just eaten and practically screaming from pain.
The slightly-concerned looking nurse called the midwife back in the room at 12:15 am. The midwife took one look at me and said, "He's right there. You're ready to push. Go on."
"What?" I said, suddenly scared.
Scott was up again and by my side, holding a leg and wrenching my neck into my chest while everyone in the room screamed "PUSH!"
The first thing I knew about my baby was that he had a lot of hair. Everyone commented on it. But, no, I didn't want to reach down and touch his head. No, I didn't want a mirror. I had one mission and one mission only. To launch this missile.
After nine hours in labor and 20 minutes of pushing, our son more or less slid into the world.
My first reaction: "I can't believe THAT just came out of me." He looked so BIG.
Then the nurse put him on my chest with his wide-open eyes taking me in and he looked so small.
Before I left for the hospital, Justin predicted that I would cry. He was right, I did. I cried at that moment when I held our baby in my arms for the first time.
I finally understand why everyone calls it a miracle.
William Sawyer Pierce: Born July 21, 2006 at 12:48 am, weighing 7 lbs 8 ounces and stretching 21.5 inches.