Matthew Allan has arrived!
On May 25, 2007 at 12:22pm, Matthew Allan was born under water into his daddy’s hands. He weighed in at 8lb 1oz and was 22.25 inches long!

The full story:

I woke up at 5:00 Friday morning and felt really nauseous. I immediately knew that I was in labor, although I am not sure how because I was having no contractions at that time. I made Randy get up and get a cool washcloth for my head and decided to try to wait until 6:00 before re-waking Randy. At 6:00 I got Randy up and told him to call Kristi over to watch Molly and the contractions started about that time. They were pretty painful and were about 3-5 minutes apart from the beginning.

We got up and Randy showered and we both got dressed and got Molly up and dressed. Kristi arrived about 7:00 and we left for the birthing center soon after that. When we arrived they checked me, and I was only 3cm dilated, which is how far dilated I had been the day before at my appointment. I was very discouraged because after 2 hours of painful contractions, I had made no progress. They suggested we try to nap (yeah, right) and turned out the lights and left the room. The nurse came back an hour later to check on us and I was standing up leaning against the bed rocking back and forth with a contraction.

Trish (our nurse) said that I could get in the tub at that point if I wanted to help with the pain. I was a little worried about being in the tub in early labor (I didn’t want it to slow progress down) but Trish said she felt like things were rocking and rolling and if it stopped the contractions I could always get back out. I went ahead and got in, and boy, birthing tubs are the best inventions EVER! I see now why it is called the “midwives epidural”. It helped so much. The tub had jacuzzi jets and Randy would turn them on for me and lay cold washcloths against my back and head during contractions. The cold washcloths helped distract me from the pain of the contractions and the warm water helped me stay relaxed. Melanie (the midwife) checked me after getting in the tub and I had progressed to a 5.

I started throwing up, and the nurse came in to stay. I probably hit transition at that point… but I guess there is no way to know for sure because they didn’t check me then. Trish came and sat on one side of the tub and Randy sat on the other and they held my hands while I continued to have contractions. I started moaning and grunting with contractions and Trish asked if I was pushing. I said I wasn’t sure, but I was starting to think about it. She asked if I would like her or Melanie to check and see if I was complete. I told her to go ahead and she said I was an 8-9 and if I turned to my hands and knees, I would probably go to complete. She left to go tell the midwife and I turned over. As soon as I turned over I shouted to Randy “I’m pushing”. He ran out and told Kristi who ran to get the staff. They came in and I said I felt the head but the midwife checked and said it was my bag of waters bulging. It broke spontaneously right after that and Matthew was born 5 minutes later.

Kristi had brought Molly in when I started pushing and Molly was there sitting by the tub for the birth. The midwife told me while I was pushing that if I turned over Molly would be able to see better, but I didn’t feel like I could turn at that point, so I stayed on my hands and knees. Randy “caught” the baby and passed him up to me.

It was an amazing experience… no IV, no blood draws, no monitors, no episiotomy. It was definitely a more perfect experience than I possibly could have imagined. And now we have a beautiful, healthy boy to show for it!

Stacey