A Baby Story

As most of you know, I just had a baby. My sweet boy, Jacob Audio (yes, daddy chose his middle name) Rivera was born on March 10, 2010 at 933am. I have been blessed with the most "spirited" baby. He definitely knows what he wants, and is not ashamed to let you know. He wants what he wants when he wants it, and he gets frustrated because he wants to do more than he can actually do! Hmmmmmm I wonder where he gets that from? (*ahem* Daniel!) My hubby and I are completely opposite when it comes to our personalities. (We have in common all the important things, like morals, faith, values etc...) It actually works out pretty well. We compliment each other. So it's interesting to have two guys in the house, with personalities OPPOSITE of mine. I know it's a bit early to say Jacob is exactly like Daniel, but there is no denying their similarities. Which brings me to his (Jacob's) birthday. It was the most unique, amazing, unconventional births I've ever seen. (And I'm a labor and delivery nurse, so I've been blessed to be part of many, many births). It was by far, the most amazing day of my life! Here is my story.

Jacob was due March 7th, so when that day came and went, I was quite restless! Especially when I made up my mind that I was going to deliver at 38+3weeks (no one told me that, so I don't know where I got that from). On the morning of March 9th, I spent the morning reading, journaling, and found myself sitting at the piano, writing a song (that's a whole other blog in itself). After being restless for the previous 2 weeks because baby wasn't here, I finally was at peace, knowing that he would get here eventually. That night, I had plans to hang out with my girls and Daniel planned to hang with his guys. We ordered take out at PF Changs and I was supposed to pick it up it was too cold so I sent Daniel and his buddy Chuck to get it. While they were gone, at 720 pm, my water broke as I was going to the bathroom. (Most pregnant women spend half their day going to the bathroom due to the 6-9 lb baby they have dancing on their bladder). Thank God I didn't pick up the food. I can't imagine walking through the Sherman Oaks Galleria with water pouring down my legs. We carried the night on as we had planned, since I wasn't contracting. I called the midwife on call at the hospital and let the charge nurse know that I would eventually be coming in. And called our families. Our plan was to labor at home for as long as possible as long as everything was normal and there was no meconium (that is when babies poop in the womb as a sign of stress, which can lead to severe complications if it gets in their lungs). Everything was normal so we carried on. The girls hung out at my friend Brooke's place (she lives across the hall from me) and the guys played video games at our place. We called it a night at 10 pm, hoping to get a full night's sleep before having to go to the hospital. At 11pm my contractions started. They were every 8 minutes at that point lasting about a minute long. Then at 1am, they became incredibly intense. That's when we called our doula, Anna. (A doula is a woman who provides help and support to both mom and dad during labor. BTW Anna was incredible!!!! If you are pregnant and want a doula, I would recommend her! Her website is www.byoursidedoula.com) She came and massaged my back with each contraction, reminding me to breathe and relax with each contraction. At 5am, the contractions were every 2-3 minutes lasting 1 minute. We decided it was time to go to the hospital. I called my peeps in L&D at UCLA and let them know I was coming. We were on our way! Anna rode with me in the back seat, massaging my back. The pain was quite unbearable. Daniel sped down the 405-S, and ran a few red lights to get me to the hospital asap. Thank God it was 5am and not 5pm. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to sit in traffic! We got there in one piece. They wheeled me up to L&D from the ER where I was greeted with smiles by the most awesome nurses! I put the gown on, peed in the cup, and the midwife checked me and I was 5cm! Half way there! Hallelujah! They admitted me. The contractions only got more and more intense. By 6am, my mom, mother in-law, sister, and 2 best friends were in the labor room with me. (I had planned to have them in the room with me when I delivered). I labored for another hour and around 7 am I felt like I had to push. The midwife asked my posse to step out of the room so that I could concentrate and rest, leaving just Anna, Daniel and me in the room. She checked me and I was 7-8cm. She suggested that I labor in the shower so I did. It was amazing and cut the intensity of the contractions in HALF! By this time, it was shift change, so I had a new nurse and new midwife. Lorraine was my RN and Ann was my midwife. I couldn't have a more perfect team! At around 830 my body was voluntarily pushing. They asked if I wanted to get back in bed, but I just couldn't. I couldn't imagine having the pain double! So they said I could give birth in the shower! They busted out the birthing stool (it's a round horseshoe shaped stool that people can deliver on) and put it in the shower. Ann the midwife got into the shower with me as I pushed. Daniel, Anna and Lorraine were all crammed in the bathroom. A little under an hour later, it was almost time! Ann was sitting in front of me ready to deliver, Lorraine was right behind her, Daniel was beside me holding my hand, and Anna was behind him holding the video camera. I was in the zone! Then all of a sudden, I hear, "look down, look down! Take your baby!" I reached down and got to pull the rest of him out and onto my chest (Kourtney Kardashian style for those of you who saw that episode of Keeping up w the Kardashians) and screamed, "it's our baby!" I helped dry him off and was overwhelmed with such joy! He was finally here! After that I walked to the bed from the shower with baby in tow! My family came in shortly after that, and the rest is history!

That's our story! I'm so blessed to be his mama! What a joy and honor it is have this sweet boy!