Calvin's birth story

On Tuesday October 16, 2012, I was sitting on the couch at home and felt baby's (that we didn't have a name for yet) hiccups that seemed to be up by my ribs instead of down low near my pelvis where they should be. Two days later, I had my 39 week checkup with my midwife (Brooke). She said I was 1cm dilated and I mentioned to her that I thought the baby might be breech because I felt the hiccups up really high. She said he's probably not, based on how he felt in my stomach from the outside, but agreed to do a quick ultrasound to confirm. We walked over to the ultrasound room, and a few minutes later, she confirmed that baby was indeed breech. She told me that we HAVE to get him to turn; otherwise they will be forced to do a C-section, which was the absolute LAST thing I wanted. I asked if I could deliver him breech, and she said absolutely not, that the risks of him getting stuck were too great. She recommended that I see a chiropractor that specializes in turning breech babies and some acupuncture. I went and saw the chiropractor she recommended twice on the 18th and again on the 19th, in hopes of turning the baby. I also saw an acupuncturist on the 18th that did some Moxibustion, also in hopes of turning the baby. 

During the evening of Friday October 19, 2012, I did some inversion and cat/cow stretching as recommended by my midwife and the chiropractor. I went to bed that night around 10pm feeling fine. Starting at around 2:30am on the 20th, painful contractions woke me up. I spent the next hour lying in bed breathing through them the best I could, without waking up Ryan. I started timing my contractions at 3:17am and they were lasting about a minute and a half and were 4-5 minutes apart. I took a shower around 4am to see if the contractions would go away, or if this was *really* labor and Ryan woke up about 5:15am (I guess my breathing got a little louder.) He asked me, half-jokingly, "Is it time?" and I replied "I think so", to which he sat straight up and said "Really? Are you serious?" Um yes. I am serious. I told him how closely they were coming (he thought I said 45 minutes apart, instead of 4 to 5) He took a shower and was taking his time. He finally took notice that I was having very little down time between contractions and he jumped into action.  I called my midwife at 5:55am and she said it sounded like labor and I should go to the hospital, she would meet me there at 7. She warned me that if the baby is still breech, it would be a C-section, so I need to prepare myself for that. I got dressed and Ryan grabbed some clothes and threw them in a bag (since it wasn't even my due date yet, we were NOT ready), woke Paul up and got him in the car as I fought contractions and got in the car myself. He called his parents on the way to the hospital and nonchalantly told them I was in labor, that we were on our way to the hospital and asked them to come get Paul. Then I called my parents in California (it was around 3 am or so) and told my mom that I was in labor and the baby would be here soon. We pulled up to the hospital at 6:50 and Ryan got a wheelchair and took me inside to the ER and left me there while he got Paul from the car. A security guard took me up to the maternity ward. Contractions were back to back and very intense. 

Once I got into the delivery room, my midwife was there waiting for me, and the nurse told me to go to the bathroom, put on a gown and give a urine sample. I went to the bathroom and felt like I needed to push while I was sitting on the toilet. When I wiped, there was bloody discharge (mucous plug.) I went back to the bed and told my midwife that I had just lost my mucous plug and as I lay there, she asked me if I was ready to be checked. I told her not yet as I fought through a big contraction. When it calmed down a little, I told her to go ahead. She checked me and said I was at least 8cm dilated and my bag of water was bulging. Her face was almost alarming- she looked worried. She then did quick ultrasound and confirmed baby was still breech, so she told me I needed an emergency C-section. She called for the OB doctor and got up to get something (maybe find the doctor and my water broke/exploded, went gushing everywhere. Ryan was standing there with Paul (his parents hadn't arrived yet) and I said "oh shit, my water just broke." I knew the baby was coming, and he was coming FAST. Ryan went running out of the room yelling "her water just broke" and then dozens of people/nurses came running in. They were saying "get the Dr., she needs to be in here NOW, get any nurses that are out there; get everyone!" Everyone seemed to be almost panicking- they were totally unprepared for how quickly he was coming. My midwife came running in, and some nurses were trying to hold my legs up as I was pushing. I was in so much pain, I kept trying to break my legs free from their grip because I felt like I needed to be up crouching or something rather than on my back. The nurses were telling me to grab onto my thighs and pull back and I just kept saying "I can't, I can't" There were 2 nurses on each side holding my legs back. At one point a nurse tried to get an IV in my arm, but for some reason she didn't or wasn't able to.

Brooke was telling me not to push, to try and hold it in, breathe it out, and then she whispered to another nurse, "This is not going to be a C-section. His foot is right here." I was yelling "I need to push, get him out, I can't do it. He's coming NOW." So I just pushed as I felt the need to. I could feel him almost crowning when the OB finally came running in. She literally threw a gown over her arms and slid some gloves on and she was able to help glide him out, feet and butt first. She set the baby on top of me and at that point, Ryan came running back in just after he was delivered and he was able to cut the cord. She then delivered the placenta. Baby was covered in meconium (poop) but checked out fine. One of the nurses asked me what his name was, and I said "I don't know. Ryan, what is his name?" And he looked at me and said "His name is Calvin Oliver." I called my mom back about 30 minutes later and said "Hi mom. He's here." And she said "What? Really? Already?! OK...well, we'll be there late tonight." 

Calvin Oliver Emmart was born butt and feet first, completely natural/un-medicated on Saturday October 20, 2012 at 7:23am, 7 lbs. 1 oz., 19 1/2" (33 minutes after we got to the hospital, and only 5 hours after I started having contractions.) His original due date was 10/23/12. 

The on-call pediatrician came and checked him out and said he looks fine. His soft spot on his head is a little larger than normal but it will close itself. Calvin had some spots on his skin that the Dr said will go away- he called them "Cafe Au Lait" spots but didn't say what they were otherwise. He told us to have a sonogram on his hips at done at 8 weeks because sometime breech babies can have hip dislocations.  His circumcision was done around 11 am and went well. His foreskin was swollen but the Dr. said it would heal up fine. The pediatrician also noted that he had a smaller head, but again, didn't seem to concerned about it. He said it was probably because he was breech and didn't have room to grow like it would have normally. Calvin also had two soft spots, one at the very back of his head and one at the top. The Dr said they would close up and be fine. 

Here are some pictures from the day/night he was born. I sent the second picture to my family in a text message saying "look how little his head is! His poor noggin didn't have any room to grow. Ha." Who knew that it was really an indicator of what was to come...