Trina's account of Jonathan's birth

Before I start, I must give credit where it is due. It was Julie's doing that got me to the hospital on time -- I was chatting with her and it had been awhile since we had had an update on the board, and I was being wishy washy about whether I should leave or not. I was still waiting on your phone call that you were heading to the hospital, and Julie said: "GO NOW OR YOU ARE GOING TO MISS IT. SHE IS HAVING A BABY!" My concious mind had been saying, "Wait until morning or until you are called" but my instincts were tugging at me to "GO TO YOUR FRIEND!" So I went. Instincts can be very persuasive. ;) That's how we got to the hospital in time. Side story: Doug and I got in the van to leave for the hospital and I almost sat on a fortune cookie slip a nice waitress had given Audrey a handful of them extra when we left our favorite Chinese Place the day before. Audrey had taken all the rest with her, but one was left behind. I think it was waiting for us to give to Kirsty. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was about hard work being rewarded, and it seemed to be meant for her, so I brought it with us and gave it to her for good fortune. The stars were definitely in Kirsty's favor that night. Everything that happened seemed magical and right, meant to be. I had planned ahead of time to come to the hospital, just to wait so Kirsty and Aaron had someone to come out and shout "It's a boy!" to. I didn't plan on being in the delivery room, but I went back to visit her in her labor room and she seemed to want to me to stay. So I stayed. I am so lucky. She was dilated to about 6 when she arrived and seemed so disappointed -- she'd already been laboring 19 hours. She was in bed for awhile, peed several times (baby was head on her bladder), on the birthing ball for awhile, standing and swaying with Aaron in a different kind of "baby dance" seemed to be the most comfortable for her. I have pictures of that. It was touching to see how great they were as a team. Aaron anticipated most of her needs and the ones he missed, Kirsty let him know ... pmp. For about an hour she had good, hard, strong contractions. They were irregularly spaced and sometime there'd be two or three with no time to recover, then she might have 15 minutes when she was conversing and joking. *shakes head* She takes pain well. Seriously. She had great music. Every time Celine Dion came on though, she made one of us change the track. :D She rested a little during this time and Aaron and I had a chance to talk a bit. I found him modest but with a quiet strength. The type of person you would trust with anything. He may have been a little wary of the interloper from the internet (lmao) but I think his main desire was to support Kirsty. Whatever she wanted. He gave her the courage to make her own descisions, you know? And if she wanted a friend from the board there, that was fine by him. He was very nice to me, a stranger to him, at the birth of his child. I liked him a lot. I don't recall the time -- maybe 1:30 a.m. -- the nurse checked Kirsty and she was 8-9. She had been so scared she hadn't made any progress. We joked that she had been in transition and hardly knew it. Not long after that she decided (with a gentle nudge or two from Aaron and Sarah, her doula), that she wanted to go into the tub. Through all of this her water had not broken and she wanted to wait until the last possible moment because the pain and pressure were already pretty intense. Understandable, no? We went to the tub room across the hall. It had been filled awhile ago and the water had gotten cold waiting on the midwife to check Kirsty again (she was in another delivery and never did make it to check her). The water was drained but new water coming into the tub wasn't warm enough so the midwife, and nurse began filling every available container with water, microwaving it, heating it any way possible, and bringing it to the tub. Considerate Kirsty just paced the room, had a contraction every now and again, and waited patiently! Can you imagine? I would have been cussing. She was starving periodically throughout the labor. Poor thing, she had been laboring for so long without a break for much rest or food. While in the tub, having pushing contractions, she asked for someone to go get the pudding she had been eating earlier and bring it to her. I ran for the pudding. When I got back, she was in the midst of a granddaddy contraction. I quietly sat the pudding down by the music and I think at that point I also changed the CD track because Celine Dion was coming on again (lmao). Kirsty finished the contraction, looked around at us all and deadpanned: "Where's the food." With her best MSN blank stare. The whole roomcracked up. I said, "Well, at least she didn't say 'Where's the food DAMN IT.'" Give the girl some credit! At one point, she was talking about her kids between pushes (yes, she seriously was). Doula Sarah mentioned that she didn't think she had met Gabe -- and Kirsty said he is the most adorable child ever. RIGHT TRINA? I decided this was definitely not the time to say I had never met Gabe either. I have seen the child's pictures, he is gorgeous. I could attest. "ABSOLUTELY" I said. :D The contractions were really hard and Kirsty had started pushing with each one. No water breaking. The midwife wanted Kirsty to be the one to make the decision to do it or not, and Kirsty was scared and in pain. She asked Aaron to pray to give her the courage to let the doctor break her water and get this baby OUT, and we held hands around the tub and Aaron prayed. And Kirsty let the doctor do it. One push later, Jonathan was born. It took about three seconds. He was gorgeous and has a ton of hair and Kirsty just held him in the tub, she caught him herself, telling him how happy she was and how perfect he was and how beautiful he was and how much she loved him -- over and over. No one interrupted a thing. She sat like that -- with him still connected to her -- holding him and falling in love with him for about 10 minutes. Then the doctor let Aaron cut the cord and hold the baby while she and the nurse took Kirsty to the labor room to deliver the placenta. When she stood up, I remember she lost a bit of blood, but the midwife said it was ok at the time. Anyway, Doug drove me up since it was so late (he was worried about me falling asleep at the wheel) and he had been in the waiting room studying for a test he had the next day. I got him and he was proud to tell Kirsty that Jonathan already had the grasp reflex and was obviously gifted lmao. Kirsty seemed pleased. The baby had considerate timing to the end. For Doug to make it to school in time for his test, we had to leave by 4:30 a.m. Jonathan was born at 3:36 a.m. and we were on the road home with almost perfect timing. It was the right time to leave -- Kirsty and Aaron surely wanted some privacy and she wanted to nurse and rest. It was the most beautiful thing. I can't believe I got to be there for her. It was amazing. (deep breath) We were on baby highs all the way home. While we drove, the full moon came out from the clouds like a beacon for new travelers on earth, for Jonathan. It was quite magical and all together very real at the same time. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat

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