Living Simply

 
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Asher Michael
Meaning: Blessed; Like the Lord
July 25, 2010 @ 3:55am
8lbs, 11oz; 21 inches

Joining www.heavenlyhomemakers.com GratiTuesday -- Thanking God for His goodness

Asher is now just over two weeks old.  He is such a mellow baby...nothing like his arrival!

Asher is our second child, so I felt confident that this labor and delivery would be "familiar" -- I'd know what to expect.  I hoped the whole process would go a bit faster than it had with our daughter -- 30 hours of labor (15 hours of early labor and 15 hours of active labor).  And, boy, did it ever go faster -- just under 2 hours!  If I had realized I was in labor, we would have made it to the hospital, but I didn't figure it out until it was too late :-)

At my 39 week doctor's appointment (Thursday) I was 2cm dilated and 70% effaced.  My doctor stripped my membranes and home I went, hoping that Asher would be born soon.
(My mom was coming for the weekend and we hoped that she would get to see Asher while she was here because sho wouldn't be able to come for another visit for a few weeks.) 

I had some cramping and more "practice" contractions for the rest of the day, but nothing consistent and was back to "normal" by Friday morning.  I went for walks, bike rides, etc. and while I was moving I would have "practice" contractions but nothing regular.  Saturday morning we all (my husband, my mom, and my 2 year old daughter) all went garage sale-ing.  I was feeling the same as I hade been before she stripped my membranes.  While we were out I picked up some Castor Oil -- before our daughter was born the midwife suggested I try it to induce labor -- I tried it with her and it didn't do anything, I didn't even poop more!  But I thought I'd give it a try with Asher.

So, Saturday night about 10:45pm I took 2 Tbsp castor oil in some iced tea and went to bed.  I woke up at 2:00am needing to urinate badly (this was not unusual, pregnant women always have to pee badly!)  As I got out of bed I felt some wetness in my underpants and figured my bladder had leaked on my way to the bathroom (I was wrong!).  I started having what I thought were gas pains (due to the castor oil), just in my lower abdomen, and I was pooping, so I didn't think anything of it.  The "gas pains" continued on-and-off and I kept pooping.  Sometime between 3:30 and 3:45am the "gas pains" got much more intense.  I woke up my husband and my mom and had my husband call the hospital (I was thinking, "what have I done?!  This castor oil thing was not a good idea!")  We were all in the bathroom at this point and while my husband was explaining the situation to the nurse on the phone, I began to feel as if I had to push. (This was the first time I actually considered that I might be in labor!)  The nurse on the phone heard me say that I had to push and she told my husband to hang up and call 911.  My husband hung up with the nurse and told me he was going to call 911 and I told him, "we can drive to the hospital faster than the ambulance will get here." (We live in rural central MN, it takes 30 minutes for the ambulance, we live a 20 minute drive from the hospital.)  In my head I was thinking, "We don't have time for the ambulance OR to drive!"  My still half-asleep husband went to put his jeans on and was back in the bathroom in 30 seconds with 911 dialed into the phone, just as my mom was saying, "We have a head!"  A (very) short time later, Asher was here with us!  My mom got to "catch" him, my husband was right there supporting me and our little girl slept through the whole thing, just 12 feet away (praise God!).  Then my husband called 911.

Thank God (literally) that we live in a small house -- clean towels and a bulb syringe were within 2 steps of the bathroom.  My mom is a nurse (RN) and although she has worked in a clinic for the past 12+ years, she did a great job caring for Asher -- suctioning and drying.  I was still standing in the bathroom so we all moved into the kitchen (about 5 feet, praise God again for a small house!) and I sat down on floor. 

Now, because the ambulance takes 30 minutes to get to our "community", we have local volunteer first responders that carry pagers and are dispatched when an ambulance is called -- they usually arrive in 5-10 minutes.  As a nurse myself, I served as a first responder for 4 years before marrying and having my first baby, we also worked with and go to church with many of the first responders, so I knew that the people showing up at our house in just a few minutes would be ones that I would know...GET ME SOME BLANKETS!

Within minutes we have a house full of friends, my old boss (also the man who married my husband and I), my husband's old boss, and a couple other people from church.  Thankfully, two of the responders were women so that guys could just make room in the yard for the ambulance and hang out in the living room.

The ambulance arrived and with nothing to do but transport me and Asher to the hospital, away we went.  The doctor covering the ER was a wonderful lady who shared with me that she had done the same thing -- THANK YOU, I don't feel quite so silly now!

Praise God, Asher is hear (and safely), my mom got to meet him (right away) and Ruthie slept through the whole thing!