Since this is likely our last labor story to share, I thought it would be fun to do things a little different and have Colton share his side of our fourth baby’s birth story.
I don’t know of anyone who actually likes switching insurance companies, adding in all the members of the family’s info, and inputting life history data. Yet, for some reason, I somewhat enjoyed doing it on Friday afternoon. It came to the point where I was adding all my children and the thought came to my mind—there’s going to be a fourth one added here soon. Little did I know in a matter of hours that would be the case.
While talking to my boss in his office, I felt my pocket vibrate, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. The conversation I was having with my boss was quite important, after all I just started this new position at a new company so I needed to be extra attentive. But the memory of me ignoring my wife’s call after her water broke while at a men’s bible study for our first baby came into my head. I didn’t want to repeat the wrath of my wife, so I checked my phone to see my wife telling me something to the effect that I need to come home ASAP.
After grabbing some food, I went home and began preparing the family for a new baby. Rebekah and I were getting things ready, kids were excited, and grandma was reposed amongst the hullabaloo. Rebekah’s contractions, while sporadic, were getting stronger. Since this wasn’t my first rodeo, I knew to just simply be there for her and pray. After considering whether we should stay or go, we decided to go to the birthing center, given Rebekah’s contractions were quite strong.
The drive was honestly not that stressful, when you compare it to the drive I did with Ames (see the Alien Extraction blog for that crazy story). Once we got to the birthing center, we met Valerie, our midwife. She came out to greet us at the car and in that moment I knew she was going to be amazing—and she was! Not only was she calm the entire night, she was also confident. The birthing center was both homey and cute. A big bathtub, a comfy bed, a well organized full kitchen (stocked with drinks and snacks), and coffee.
Rebekah’s contractions got stronger and stronger, and closer together. You could tell she was beginning to get tired of them, and losing energy. She started on the bed in various positions to find that one spot that could make it a tiny bit more comfortable, but there’s not a whole lot you can do at that point. I did my best to support her and keep my mouth shut (experienced dad’s will know what I’m talking about here). But when she finally was having consistent and intense contractions every five minutes, then came the bath. To say Rebekah was relieved is an understatement.
While the contractions and pain didn’t stop, the hot bath made everything relax, and much more bearable. You can tell Rebekah gained a new energy during her time in the bath. I was on fan and cold wet cloth duty, to help keep her from getting overheated. But finally, the time came when she progressed enough that we needed to go to the bed where she wanted to give birth. It wasn’t maybe 30 minutes since moving from the bath that she was fully dilated, and the baby was coming. I’ve never seen Rebekah fight so hard in my life! Looking back on it, we now know why she had such a harder time with the birth compared to our past babies. But goodness did it seem like forever from when the pushing started until the baby exited. Rebekah did amazing, and with great relief, and “thank the Lord” a bajillion times, we had little Austen Harker Claborn in our arms for some skin-to-skin. Even though this is my fourth child, this moment still brought me to tears with joy for our great gift, and the pride of seeing Rebekah going through what she did.
The midwife and her birthing assistant did a spectacular job just letting Rebekah’s body do what it ought to do. And even with the baby out, they were so amazing and made Rebekah and I feel comforted. What made our midwife and birthing assistant that much more awesome is while Rebekah was in labor and giving birth, just down the hall was another mother doing the same. And yet, while the midwife and birthing assistance were pulling double duty taking care of us both, they still met all our needs and more! Within an hour, we were all resting and enjoying Austen with cinnamon rolls in the oven and coffee brewing. When it came time to perform the health assessment on the baby, I had the privilege of weighing the baby. This is when we all realized why the birth was so difficult—she was eight pounds! Now, some moms out there may see that and think, “What a lightweight!”. But Rebekah, who normally gives birth to six pound babies, this was a monster!
After a much-needed nap, Rebekah and I were ready to head out with Austen, just six hours after arriving. Everything went well and I couldn’t be happier about choosing to have the baby with a midwife at a birthing center (who gave us a birthday cake to take home!) We got home after 4AM and thanks to Rebekah’s mother taking the kids, we were able to get a good five hour nap in before starting the next day.
One Comment
This was beautiful to read. I am so happy you felt the love we have for you. Every birth, every labor, every parent, and every baby is special. And we can only pray and hope that our efforts allow you to feel as special as we think you are. Thank you for sharing your most special day with me. It was my honor to watch you both become parents to Austen.
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