Birth Story

The Basics
Evelyn Ruth Conrow was born on Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 2:30am. She weighed in at 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 21 inches long with a head circumference of 14 1/4 inches. Labor was 11 hours long and Evelyn came after only 15 minutes of pushing!

The Name
Back in January or February the name Evelyn popped into my head. I thought, I wonder if that’s her name. I told Alan that a name had come into my head, but I didn’t want to tell him what it was. If it was supposed to be our little girl’s name, God would tell it to him. I was prepared for quite a bit of time to go by for God to tell Alan the name if it was what her name was to be, so I was quite surprised when less than two days later Alan said to me, “Is it Evelyn?” I responded in utter surprise that he had indeed just said the name. We decided at that moment that unless God clearly indicated otherwise before her arrival, Evelyn was to be her name.

Evelyn means “Life” and Ruth means “Friend”. Ruth was my Great Grandmother’s name.

The Short of It
My water broke at 3:15 in the afternoon on Saturday. After one strong contraction nothing happened for 4 hours. About 7:30pm contractions started picking up and at 10:30 Alan and I decided we’d better head for the birthing center (ABC). We arrived at the ABC at 11:15. At 2:15am I felt the urge to push and 15 minutes later Evelyn was in my arms!

The Details (and I mean ALL the details!)
Saturday afternoon (May 2nd, my original due date before it was moved to the 4th) Alan went to go look at a bike someone had told him was for sale at a nearby garage sale. With Adeline napping I thought I’d lie down on the couch and get some rest, too. A few minutes later he called and I jumped up to get my phone that was across the room so the ring wouldn’t wake up Adeline. I didn’t make it to the phone in time so I went back to the couch hoping to get some shut eye. No sooner did I sit down than my water broke (3:15pm), and it was nothing like what it was with my first pregnancy. It was a sudden deluge of water. I barely made it to the bathroom in time, grabbing my phone on the way. I called Alan and said, “Two things: One, did you just call me?” And when he took too long to answer I skipped to number two: “Second thing, my water just broke.” Needless to say he came straight home. (**It turns out the phone didn’t ring enough times because at the moment I went to pick up my phone the battery flew out of Alan’s. It fell to the ground and Alan thought, well wouldn’t this be inconvenient if I wasn’t reachable! He was preparing to tell me this little story when I called back moments later to indeed tell him we were going to have a baby!)

I called my mom and she and my Grandma Jo dropped what they were doing (buying plants at the nursery) and headed our way. At 3:17 I had a really strong contraction and thought, oh my goodness this is going to happen fast. Adeline had woken up with the hullabaloo and noise of my making phone calls so I was trying to contain the mess of my water breaking while comforting her and getting her out of her crib! When Alan got home he called our pastor’s wife, Marsha, to see if she could come hang out with Adeline until Amma and Great Grandma Jo arrived (again, we were thinking our time was short). Marsha came over and lent a helping hand while Alan got things together for the hospital. I called the midwife on call and we chatted about options, deciding I’d stay home for a good while to see what progress I might make. I also called our doula, Jamie, to give her a heads up on what was going on, but that we didn’t need her at home just yet. Before we knew it, a good hour went by... and then another... no contractions.

Mom and Grandma Jo made it at about 5:45 (Marsha went home since Amma made it in time!) and Adeline went to the grocery store with Amma and Great Grandma Jo to get us some dinner. We all ate a nice big meal to get us through the hours ahead. At about 6:30 I got a call from the midwife. She was checking in and I told her “nothing to report!” At about 7:30 Adeline left with Amma and Great Grandma Jo to spend the night at Amma’s house. About this time I started feeling contractions, but not too severe. Alan and I watched the last hour of the HBO John Adams series and made it through about the first 45 minutes or so of Two Weeks Notice when things started getting stronger. About this time (9:45ish) the midwife called again to check in. We chatted over our options a little and Alan and I decided to continue to labor at home for a bit. We knew we weren’t going to get any sleep but thought it was still a little premature to head to the ABC. By 10:15pm, we had changed our minds! Contractions had been anywhere from 7-10 minutes apart since about 8:30 and they definitely were not backing down. We got our final things together and put them in the car, then called the ABC to let them know we were on our way. We also called Jamie to have her meet us at the hospital.

We arrived at the ABC and got settled into our room by 11:15pm. The nurse checked me right when I arrived and I was very sad and disappointed to learn I was only at 2cm, just where I was at my midwife appointment on Friday morning! Four hours of uncomfortable (but manageable) contractions had done nothing!

At the nurse’s suggestion I got in the tub to relax and labor for a while. Jamie arrived shortly thereafter. I labored by myself in there for a bit till things were starting to feel strong enough that I needed more physical support. Alan donned his trunks and got in with me at about midnight. After working fairly hard at some contractions for a bit the nurse checked me again... 4cm!! Again, mucho disappointment. I really thought the contractions were strong enough to be doing more. Apparently the nurse did too because she said I had been working awfully hard not to have made more progress. We decided a position change was in order, so I labored on my hands and knees in the tub starting at about 1am. This caused some leg cramping for a bit, but it passed. I rested my head on Alan’s knees while he and Jamie poured water constantly over my back. Twice during this portion of labor I needed to throw up. I was able to simply say, “I feel like I’m going to throw up,” and Alan and/or Jamie had a bucket in front of me. My eyes were closed as I was focused on the task at hand, so as I threw up I just trusted that they would have something in front of me to take care of it! They did, and we just moved right along. Someone was always ready with my water bottle, too, so I could rinse out my mouth and take sips of water to stay hydrated and keep my mouth moist with all the heavy breathing I was doing.

Laboring in the Tub

Many of you know that with my labor with Adeline I wanted a natural labor and was ready to work very hard and be in a lot of pain. I ended up squeezing fingers and rocking through contractions as I yelled quite a bit about the pain. This time, after doing some Bradley reading, I was determined to have a quiet and relaxed labor. I worked very hard to focus and relax through every contraction (kind of a paradox I realize) and just let the strongest muscle in my body do what it was designed to do – contract and squeeze the baby down and out of my body. To this end through each contraction I found myself chanting “Bringing the baby down” and focusing on where I was feeling pain and what it was doing. There were definitely some contractions that got away from me. They only happened, however, when I had been distracted from my concentration and relaxation in between contractions by questions from personnel or needing a change in position. For those of you wondering out there, Bradley knows what he’s talking about. This relaxation stuff really works! It really allowed me to listen to what my body needed during labor, and I’m convinced it helped me know how and when to position myself to allow for the quickest and easiest labor possible.

That said, I knew I was using too much of my own energy on my hands and knees in the tub. My wrists and arms were getting tired. So we moved to the bed (maybe at about 1:30 or 1:45am) and I labored on my hands and knees with my head and entire upper body resting on the birthing ball (for those who don’t know, it’s basically a giant yoga/exercise ball). Things got really strong at this point as I continued to chant to myself, “Bringing the baby down...let the body do the work...” Alan was gently massaging my face and holding the birthing ball, keeping it from rolling away as I completely relaxed between contractions – enough to even doze off a bit. I couldn’t believe it when all of a sudden I felt the urge to push just after 2am. The nurse came over and said, “I can feel the head. This baby’s coming!” She was crowning! Alan and I couldn’t believe we were already there and he voiced what we both were thinking, “Really? I was ready for a couple more hours of this!”

I tried pushing in the position I was in with the birthing ball, but quickly decided I didn’t want to. I ended up lying on my left side in the bed. Alan helped hold one of my legs while with each contraction I practically pulled his shirt off to grip something to get a good push. Jamie was able to take some pictures while the midwife and nurse were really good at telling me exactly where and how to push. I could feel Evelyn coming down and kept telling myself I was going to meet her soon. I couldn’t believe it when after only 15 minutes of pushing the midwife said, “Meredith, reach down and grab your baby.” There she was, all a mess, in my arms. I kept saying, “I’m done. I’ve been waiting so long and thought it would never come and I’m done.” I had, after all, gone from 2cm to baby in my arms in 3 hours!

Daddy Holds Evelyn for the First Time

Alan cut the cord and then held her while I had a little stitching up done, although not as much as with Adeline. Evelyn nursed for the first time at 3:15 when she was only 45 minutes old and did such a good job. We have spent every second with her since she was born as the policy at the ABC is to have all tests, procedures, etc. done right in the room with you. They never had to take her away for any reason. I held her as she had her vitamin K shot and her blood drawn for the standard tests they do. The lady who did the hearing test came in with her cart and did it right next to our bed. Evelyn passed. She had her first bath when she was about 12 hours old under the warmer in our room while I took pictures.

Evelyn's First Shampoo

All Soapy!

Clean, Dry and Snuggy

Although it was a completely different experience from my first labor (even though it started basically the same way), this natural childbirth was just as satisfying. Possibly even more so because I was able to labor the way I had really wanted to, utilizing all of the relaxation tools I had been practicing. But I definitely have to say that this pregnancy and birth were a lot harder on my body than the first time. Must be the old age! Alan was phenomenal the whole time (even though I bit him once and scratched his arm – those were a couple of the contractions that got away...). I don’t know how women have ever done this without the constant love and support of their husband throughout – both physical and emotional. We definitely did this together.

Oh and by the way, Alan did get the bike.