Devri Mae

Last Friday was day 6! Six days over due, and we were just short of going crazy. Not only had we waited five plus years to finally have a baby -- each day our baby went over due was mental torture. Maybe we were the one couple in the history of man that was meant to stay pregnant forever. The only benefit we would get from this pregnancy is an eternal belly shelf for Alanna to rest her arms. Each night we would go to sleep wondering if our slumber would be cut short with labor pains but would then wake up to the reality of our eternal belly shelf still there. 

Friday morning Alanna went to see our midwife to determine what could be done to encourage this baby out. Our wonderful midwife put together a wonderful potion of herbs that would help invite the body to do some contracting. Alanna put it down like an Irish drunk and then waiting for the magic to happen. We were told it would do something in the next four hours. Four hours past and the belly shelf remained unchanged. Since my ADD was off the charts Friday afternoon it was worthless for me to try and continue working. In an effort to distract ourselves from our impatience I told Alanna we should go see the new movie "What to Expect When Expecting" and laugh about our situation rather than cry. 

On our way to the movie Alanna said she could feel a slight hint of contracting -- nothing that hurt. We joked about the possibility of being made world famous by having her water break during a movie about pregnant life. Before the movie started we noticed the audience consisted of white haired old ladies and couples sporting a similar belly shelf. If prizes were awarded Alanna would have definitely won best in rotund. We sat through the movie and laughed here and there (wasn't as funny as I was hoping). Alanna continued to mention her contractions were still there. Near the end of the movie the characters were comically driving to the hospital to deliver their baby as if they had no time to waste. Alanna leaned over to me and said she was going to the bathroom. I cursed the pregnancy gods for making her pee and miss the finale of the movie. As she left the row and started down the back hallway of the theater towards the door the water gave out covered her pants in amniotic fluid. She stood there stunned and grateful she had taken her phone with her -- she texted me.

As I was snickering at the characters in the movies slipping on amniotic fluid as they rushed into the hospital my phone buzzed (good thing I didn't take the advice of turning my phone off during the movie - so sue me). I opened the text from Alanna:

"Come. My water broke. Not kidding! Hurry." (6:34 PM)

I then told her sister Nicole about my wife's wet pant situation and we walked out of the theater to find Alanna wet with excitement. Thankfully my emergency preparedness skills prepared me with a towel in my trunk for Alanna to sit on. We then headed home and called the midwife to let her know we were on deck and then we waiting for things to progress. 

Being our first full term pregnancy we weren't sure what to expect and Alanna said the contractions were close together but not that painful. The midwife encouraged us to allow things to progress and then come into the birthing center. Around 12:30am (Saturday morning) Alanna was more than uncomfortable with each contraction and figured it would be best to go in. We called our midwife and let her know we were going to make like a newborn and head out (Sorry, I couldn't resist). 

We'd like to thank UDOT for making the trip to the birthing center a bit longer. They like to close exits when it is 1 o'clock in the morning. After going out of our way and a few U-turns we made it to the birthing center. The next 7 hours consisted of Alanna laying on the bed in deep focus getting through each contraction. She then moved to the padded tub which made things a sliver more bearable.

Alanna was a trooper! There were flashes of moments when she wanted to throw in the towel but deep down she knew there wasn't another exit strategy available. I did my best to put my smart alec filter on high in order to not get slapped. I had moments where I wanted to remind her of our hope to have 6 or 7 kids but was smart enough to keep my mouth shut. Alanna now has every right to kick me if I am ever found complaining about life. We were expecting birth to be intense but you just can't understand it until you experience it. Even though I witnessed it I still have no idea of the battle she fought to get our girl here.  

Around 8:30am the sun had come up and the last 14 hours seems like a blur. Alanna had been pushing for about two hours and the baby's sweet little head was starting to join the party. Suddenly the whole head was out and then the the torso. Our midwife turned the baby around and I saw her delicate face. She was still under water in the tub but that didn't stop her from opening her eyes and taking a look at the strange planet she was on. Out came her feet and little Devri was placed on the chest of her mother. She didn't cry but simply looked around the room sizing up her parents. She was perfect and put together -- ten fingers, ten toes. We felt lucky and grateful. This was the one moment we admired the baby without waiting for the child's rightful parents to take her away from us. We were finally not babysitting. Devri Mae was ours - FOREVER.