Michael's Birth Story

It's possible that we're a *little* behind on this, but without further ado, here is the way Michael Conrad made his way into the world from the point of view of his Daddy with a few add-ins and edits from his Mommy.

So Ashley was due on 20 March 2015, but since it was our second, half the wives tales say that you can expect the baby to come early (obviously the other half say the exact opposite.)  Couple that with the fact that everyone had predicted an early delivery and the fact that Ashley was feeling super pregnant so also WANTED Michael to come early, everyone was looking at Ashley for a good week, just waiting to see it THIS contraction was the real deal!  Ashley will tell you that it got a little old having everyone stare at you as if you were going to explode. The neighbors got excited every time Ashley and I left the house together. During this time, there were many walks, attempting to get something going.  Then on 20 March, Ashley started having some serious contractions.  They started after lunch and went on into the evening.  Ashley stayed up a good portion of the night certain that at any moment she was going to get to wake everyone to tell them it was time…and then… late that night, ALL STOP!  Needless to say, by the morning of 21 March, we were a little discouraged.

Then that morning, there were some sporadic contractions followed by about a 10 hour lull.  Then at 5 PM, she had her first real contraction of the day.  From that point, they started to be a regular 10-15 minute intervals.  We ate a delicious dinner of Rueben’s sandwiches (Ashley was already progressing enough that she couldn’t really eat much), and then I started checking on bags and other needed items while Ashley played a little bit with Kennedy.  At around 7 PM, Ashley and Mimi put Kennedy down to sleep, at which point Ashley came back out and told me to put our “Peaceful Soak” CD onto my iPod.  This was a last minute decision, but would prove to be crucial for the rest of labor!  In the middle of downloading the CD, Ashley asked if I had moved everything to the car, which told me that this was in fact “go time”.  After loading the car, I asked Ashley where her contractions were at.  She had installed an app on her phone to track the time, so rather than talking she showed me her phone which had been steadily sitting at 5-7 minutes for the last hour.  I knew we still had 30 minutes, so we loaded the car and headed off to the hospital.  The “Peaceful Soak” was playing on the iPod as we drove off base and down Western Blvd.  It was at this time that I realized my eyes weren’t seeing clearly enough to read road signs and it was too dark to see where the turn for the hospital was at.  So I said “Hey, if you aren’t in the middle of a contraction, and can tell me where the turn is, I’d appreciate it.”  Her response was simply “Really?  Seriously? This really fills me with confidence.  My driver can’t even see!”  Fortunately,  I was able to figure out the turn, so we pulled around to find parking.  Unfortunately, while I had practiced the drive to the hospital, I hadn’t ever parked over at the ER, which is where we would be admitted (we had assumed a morning or afternoon delivery so I had parked near the labor and delivery.  After one failed attempt, I finally got parking over near the ER and we walked (slowly) inside at 8:23 PM.  When we got to the front desk, the lady didn’t even have a chance to say anything before I said “she’s in labor, we are pre-registered, and her contractions are 2-3 minutes apart.”  They continue to act nonchalant, moving her over to fill out some additional paperwork, when I said again “She is at 2-3 minutes between contractions!”  Finally, they seemed to get the hint that we needed to move a little faster, putting her in a wheel chair and moving her over to labor and delivery.  Once we got there, I set up the room, putting my iPod on near Ashley’s bed, and asking to turn out the light so Ashley could relax.

So that brings me to our nurse.  She started off by asking a series of questions.  Now I can’t be mad about that normally, except that she continued to ask them even as Ashley was in the middle of a contraction.  And since Ashley had a monitor on her stomach, there was a great big screen that TOLD YOU when she was having a contraction.  Yet she would ask and then look perplexed why Ashley wasn’t answering quickly.  So after one or two questions, I just started answering her questions until she went away.  Ashley at this point was doing exceptionally well.  The movement and getting admitted had made the contractions erratic for a little while, but she had calmed down and things were doing awesome.  Then the nurse walked back in with another nurse.  Our primary asked if it was ok if the other one practiced giving Ashley an IV for fluids instead of her.  Ashley said sure (I mean what could the harm be right?  These people are professionals, right?) Without warning, the nurse turned the light back on so I put my hand over Ashley’s eyes cause I could tell the bright light made it hard to relax.  Then the “student” made her first attempt and completely botched it (Ashley’s arm would be really bruised and tender later because of it).  Then the actual nurse went to do the other arm.  Though she got it right, there was a ton of pain (and blood) associated with it.  At that point the nurse asked if Ashley wanted an epidural.  After all the stupidity at that point (and a desire to do this naturally), she just wanted to be left alone, so she said no.  The nurse did some more quick tests, in the middle of which I asked how long she had been doing this. Her response was, “why does it seem like I’m new?” I tried to be nice and just said I was curious.  The nurse finally left the room and Ashley calmed back down into a good rhythm. She was doing so well that she was able to joke and relax in between contractions.  The nurse came in again at 9:41 (once again turned on the light, so I covered Ashley’s eyes)  and checked Ashley for dilation.  She was 7 cm and 100% effaced.  The next time the nurse came in, Ashley was 9 cm, but her water had not broken yet and Michael wasn’t yet all the way down.   So at that point the nurse says, “I guess I should call the doctor.”  This was at around 9:52.  Ashley continued to labor on, and at around 10:05, the doctor showed up.  The doctor broke her water and said to just let them know when Ashley felt the need to push. 15 minutes later, Ashley gave me the look “it’s time” and I called in the nurse.  At 10:25, the doctor and all the additional people came in and set Ashley up to start pushing.  Our primary nurse was up at Ashley’s head with me trying to tell Ashley what to do, but I could tell she was over compensating, so I just talked straight to Ashley and told her how things were going, how close she was, and that she was doing awesome.  She was breathing quickly so they gave her an oxygen mask.  At that point the doctor mentioned that Michael was backwards (or sunny side up) but everything else looked good.  Then at 10:43, Ashley gave one last push and little Michael Conrad Eckert came into the world!