Birth Story

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Our story begins a couple of weeks before our due date of May 8 as Kara's subconscious started preparing us for the inevitable. Bottles of water were dropped in the car, spilling all over the seats and occupants. Glasses of water being knocked over on the tables, newspapers, and baby books. The cat's water dish getting kicked and dumped out on the floor. And then kicked and spilled again after Kara had filled it back up and was cleaning up the first mess. Or maybe it was just a lack of coordination, that whole 'loosening of the ligaments' ploy. Regardless, the last few weeks of the pregnancy were wet. Also about this time, I got an excited call at work from Kara. She had just seen that one of our favorite bands, Poi Dog Pondering, was going to be playing in town, May 10th, two days after our due date. Now I have seen them several times and introduced Kara to their music, but Kara had never seen them and wasn�t about to let a little fact like a due date stop her. She made me call TicketMaster to buy tickets. She also decided that we would use the concert to start the labor process and then have the baby on that Saturday. It didn�t work out that way of course. The concert, and the due date, came and went with no sign of baby. We went in on Tuesday May 14 (one week after due date) for a sonogram and stress test to make sure baby was still doing ok and had plenty of room in there. Everything was perfect so they said they were fine letting us wait another week. We did decide, though, if baby was still taking its sweet time that we would induce the following Tuesday. We hoped it wouldn�t come to that. We had taken Bradley Method classes and decided to use Certified Nurse Midwives to have as natural a birth experience as possible. But if baby wasn�t going to cooperate, we were willing to give it a little nudge.
Stephanie, one of our midwives, suggested going in that Friday so she could strip Kara�s membranes. She said that it was a pretty good way to get things going. We went in and got checked out, and Stephanie said things were looking like they could happen any time (though Kara wasn't starting to dilate yet), and that she fully expected to see us that weekend. That got our spirits up. She also suggested that when we got up in the morning, Kara should take some castor oil to see if that would jump start things. As it wreaks havoc on the insides, it's supposed to start contractions. That night we also went out for some spicy Tex-Mex at the Austin Grill. Rumor has it that spicy food helps induce. We then took a walk around Old Town (Alexandria). Saturday came and Kara took the oil. We went for a three mile walk around noon and then went to the movies at 2. As we were walking there at about 1:45, Kara slowed down a bit and said, �I don�t feel normal anymore. It�s time to start treating me special�. I should have paid attention.
Towards the end of the movie the castor oil kicked in and we headed home. We got home about 4:20 and the fun began. The first serious contraction hit at 4:22 and lasted 45 seconds. At 4:27 Kara said �You might want to film me a little, I don�t know how long this will last�. Between the castor oil doing its thing and 45 sec. contractions coming out of nowhere, Kara was quite uncomfortable. The castor oil worked its way through her system in about an hour, and the contractions continued on as we had hoped they would. With the duration of the contractions already 45 sec. and only 2-3 min. in between, we sort of started freaking out and began getting ready to run out the door. What happened to a nice build up of contractions starting 10 minutes apart! We called Stephanie and she said not to get in the car quite yet. This could last all night and that we should get as much rest as possible, eat, and generally be prepared to work at it a long time. We had also called Beth who was our Bradley instructor. We had asked her to help us through the birth and lend her expertise and extra hands to pull off our goal of a natural birth. She also indicated that we should be ready to work through this for most of the night. This definitely psyched Kara out. She immediately started thinking there was no way she was going to make it all night if we were starting off at this level of pain. And it was supposed to get worse!? So we settled in on the couch because Kara didn�t feel she could walk or do anything beyond the fetal position. I fed her a PB&J sandwich and lots of juice. We called Stephanie again to let her know we were having 1 min. contractions that were still hovering about 2 min. apart. She asked to talk to Kara so she could get a sense of how Kara was doing. After talking awhile she still felt we were early in the labor and to rest as best we could between contractions. We had told Beth we would call her later to come over so we would have a chance to work at this as a couple. At about 7pm, Kara was wanting to go to the hospital, so we decided it was time to call Beth and have her come over and let her assess how Kara was doing. Beth came over a little after 8 and we all worked through a few series of contractions. Kara was really wanting to go to the hospital. We said that we would but that I would take a few things out to the car and then we would call Stephanie to let her know. I was delaying. I dawdled a bit to and from the car to delay us going to the hospital for as long as possible. We then called Stephanie and told her that Kara really thought it was time to come in. She asked to talk to her again and proceeded to talk to her through a contraction to see how she was handling it. She said if Kara really wanted to go to the hospital at this point, she wouldn�t stop her. She said she would make the drive herself from her home.
So we headed to our cars, stopping twice for contractions. You can�t make it very far when you have a contraction every two minutes. Beth got in her car and said she would meet us there. I drove calmly thinking we had all the time in the world. But I knew mentally that this would take one worry off her mind. Now we would be at the hospital, could use the Jacuzzi and not have to worry about driving over later in labor. But I was hoping we weren�t only at 3 or 4 cm in dilation. I knew that would really hurt Kara psychologically. We pulled up to the Emergency entrance at 9:20. They grabbed a wheelchair for Kara and took us up to Labor & Delivery. Kara asked if we could stop for her to go to the bathroom. The nurse asked us about the contractions and we told her they had been going for about 2 hours at a minute apiece and 2 min. in between. She said we couldn�t stop and that we should probably hurry up to L&D. I was thinking,�Doesn�t she know we could be doing this all night?� When we got up there they rushed her into triage to gauge how far along she was and I had to go back down to the entrance to check us in and to move the car. While waiting to check in I had three different people tell me I seemed too calm for an expectant father. I just said thanks. I was thinking we had all night. After parking the car I ran into Stephanie coming into the hospital. As we were walking up to L&D she told me she was excited to see how far along Kara was. She said that she was expecting her to be at 2 or 3 cm based on listening to Kara on the phone and her past experience with other mothers. I told her I kind of felt the same way but was hoping for a little higher number so Kara wouldn't be too disappointed. As we walked into the triage area Kara asked if she could go to the restroom before Stephanie checked her out. Stephanie just smiled and said of course as we watched Kara hop off the table and then get back on. As Stephanie started to check her out, you could see her eyes getting bigger. �Kara, you are doing awesome! You�re almost at 8 cm!� and she proceeded to rush the nurse staff off to prepare for what was now an eminent delivery. Kara did refrain at that point from saying I told you so, but she did manage to say that SHE knew she was that far along. I have to say she was doing so great that no one had a clue how much work she was doing.
We moved into a room and went straight into a Jacuzzi. Kara said she almost instantly went into a new stage. Without gravity pulling on her body she started feeling like her body was opening up, hip joints and all. The contractions kept getting stronger but she was still able to ask me to go put some music on. Beth stayed to help Kara as I set up our cd player and put in a cd of calm music. I thought we would start quiet to keep the mood calm until we had to start pushing, then we would change cds and pick up the tempo as the night progressed, depending how labor was going. I thought we still had hours. I walked back into the Jacuzzi room as Stephanie was checking Kara�s progression and her water broke. Stephanie suggested moving to a table since they weren�t set up for a water delivery. Kara got out of the tub and brushed off my attempts at toweling her off with a wave of an arm and �Forget it, let�s go�. She did mention later though that as she was walking across the floor it felt like the baby was just going to fall out.
She hopped up on the table and, skipping the biological details, had Kai Owen Short a mere 15 minutes later (only 1 hour and 25 minutes after getting to the hospital), without medication, while upright on her hands and knees. It was amazing. She was amazing. We couldn�t have planned bringing our new son into the world in a more natural way. We were even breastfeeding in minutes. Kara says that it was really hard and painful, but everyone in that room that night was so proud of Kara and how easy she made it look. It�s a testament to how strong and determined a woman she is. Kai and I are so lucky to have her in our lives.

The Story ( from the father's POV)