Life En Route: Baby Hawk is here

Here, here, here! Baby Hawk is here! Eleven days before his due date, and in fast fashion at 5:13 AM.

Hawkins Nehemiah, 6 lb 7 oz, 18.5 inches

A bit of his birth story...

For a couple of weeks leading up to his birth-day, I had been having contractions starting and stopping, with many nights of little sleep, and I kept wondering how much longer I could hang on! On a beautiful warm spring Tuesday (May 2nd) the boys and I took a picnic lunch to campus and had a great time riding bikes around, seeing a few friends, and enjoying the end-of-year feeling among the students. That evening I noticed contractions regularly every 10 minutes, but didn't overthink it since that had been happening so much. At 1 AM I woke up with a strong contraction, and phew! I got up to do some stretches and calm myself down. I fell back asleep but woke up again at 2 AM with the same thing; once again I got up to stretch but then got back in bed. At 3 AM I woke up again with contractions and the feeling that I had fluid leaking. That was strange because I had never had my water break during labor before except at the hospital right before pushing. I got up to go to the bathroom and realized, "Yep, this is my water breaking. Yep, these contractions are 5 minutes apart and quite strong." I woke Jim up and we both suddenly got into high gear packing our bags. We called Gayle Woody to come over to stay with the boys; thankfully she had her phone on and came over quickly.

We left our house about 4:15 AM and drove through the mountains in the dark early morning to the hospital in Franklin, about 25 minutes away. During the drive I really had to focus to relax through the contractions, and I was texting back and forth with Fiona (doula friend who now lives in Hawaii and was awake at 10 PM their time), who gave me great advice and helped me calm my mind to be mentally prepared. I also was texting and getting prayer support from Heather, my friend in Cape Town, who was awake at 10 AM their time!! We got to the hospital and checked in at the emergency room, and then we had to wait 10 excruciating minutes for the nurse from the labor/delivery floor to come fetch us and escort us upstairs. The nurses checked us in and took us to the triage/exam room since they were full and no delivery rooms were available. They calmly asked us questions and started their procedures - but I was having a hard time being patient because I knew this baby was going to come very soon and very quickly! I tried to communicate the urgency but I don't think they realized how close we really were.

Sure enough, while the nurse was typing on her computer and taking a blood sample from my arm, I realized the contractions were nearing the end (getting VERY intense) and that I was going to be ready to push really soon. I looked at Jim, who was holding my hand the whole time and helping me relax through the contractions, and tried to say, "No, really, this is IT." Then suddenly I said, "I'm ready to push" (or something to that effect) and there was no holding back!! The nurse jumped up and yelled out the door for more staff to come: "Baby is crowning!" and by the time two nurses made it back to the bedside he was already halfway out. They scooped him up and put him on my chest! What a sense of relief and astonishment!

It was 5:13 AM, an hour after we had left home and only about 20 minutes since we had gotten to the room. The doctor arrived about 15 minutes later after the birth!!

Our tiny exam room. This was about 3-4 hours later when they finally came back to weigh and measure him.

6 lb 7 oz! And very tightly scrunched up - so he was hard to measure, but they got him at 18.5 inches.

After a long morning of phone calls to family, and trying to decide on his name, a postpartum room finally opened up and we moved there for that day, one night, and the next day (coming home about 5 PM on May 4th). As soon as we saw Hawk we knew that he had some physical issues with his feet, hands, joints - and perhaps mouth and jaw. We weren't sure what to think; we were so glad that he had arrived but we felt confused and scared, too, because he clearly wasn't a 'normal' healthy newborn. Much of that first day he cried loudly and wasn't interested in trying to nurse. It was hard to settle him down. Thankfully the nurses and pediatrician were calm and no one commented on his feet or said anything to treat us differently. And even though we didn't know what health issues he was facing, the pediatrician was confident that he wasn't in any immediate health danger, and she supported us taking him home and getting to bond with him. I am so thankful she felt that way right from the start.