Surprise Arrival : Abigail Catherine

Kate1031 · February 2012

I was due with our third child on January 21st. This is her amazing birth story.

On Thursday, January 26th I woke up around 2am feeling some mild cramping. The cramping wasn't that intense and I was able to go back to sleep. I had a weekly doctor check-up that day at 11am. When I went, I shared with my doctor that I woke up in the middle of the night with some cramping and that the cramping had not gone away, but also had not gotten any stronger between 2am and the 11am appointment. Because I was induced with my first two children, I had never actually "gone into labor" on my own. At that point, the "cramping" was happening every 4 or 5 minutes and only lasted about 10-15 seconds. I genuinely did not believe that I was feeling actual contractions. Neither did my doctor/ He shared that the cramping I was feeling was likely only BH contractions because I was not dialated and she was still pretty high up. He also felt my stomach durring one of the cramps and said that my entire stomach was not getting hard and it did not feel like an actual contraction. He did tell me to call if anything changed and then said he would see me next week for the next check-up. I called my husband and told him that Thursday was not looking like the day our daughter would be born... and that we would likely not get to meet her until our scheduled induction on February 3rd.

I made what turned out to be a really good decision and did not go into work. (This was the first day that I did not go to work. I called and said that I was going to work from home in the afternoon if I felt up to it.) I went grocery shopping and was still feeling cramping, but it was not happening with a greater frequency and the pain remained the same. However, because the cramping was not stopping, I called my doctor's office around 2:40 to check in. I explained to the nurse that I had been in at 11, that I was still cramping, and that the cramping was lasting about 15-20 seconds. The nurse felt strongly that the cramping was wither BH contractions or very early labor. She suggested that I should stay home and monitor the situation, but said that I could head into labor and delivery if I wanted to get checked out. I told her I was going to head in and she told me not to rush, to call my husband, and to tell him to take his time coming home.

I called my husband and told him to pick up the dog at the groomers and then to head home. He was excited and hopeful that maybe our daughter was going to come. We both thought that if she was going to come, it was going to be a very long, sleepless night! I then called my in-laws and asked them to come over and to pick up our daughters from daycare. I went upstairs to grab my hospital bag and a hospital bag for the baby. I must have put my cell phone down in the nursery or left it downstairs and we do not have a home phone. I walked into our bedroom and all of a sudden felt a really strong contraction. All of a sudden I felt a huge surge of pressure. I realized my daughter was deciding to come, but I couldn't find my phone to call 911! I decided I was either crazy and this was not really labor or that I was about to have a baby.

I decided to run next dorr to my neighbor's house to have her call 911. When I got there I just kept ringing the doorbell. After what felt like several munutes, her 24 year old son answered the door. He was home alone. I told him to call 911 right away because I was having a baby. He ran right inside and called 911. I made my way to their bathroom and asked him to get me a few sheets. I could feel my daughter crowning and I knew she was going to come... but I didn't want to have the baby in front of my neighbor's son. (I was thinking that it would embarrass him and I could see the panic in his eyes!) I told him to go outside and show the EMTs where to come when they got to his house. Once he was outside, I uncrossed my legs and without even pushing, our daughter came flying out (... and so did a whole lot of water)! She let out lots of loud cries, so I knew she was breathing and sounded healthy. I was able to somehow catch her on her way out and then landed hard on my bottom. I had a sweater over a long sleeve shirt, so I pulled off my sweater and immediately wrapped her up.

The EMTs arrived just after I delivered her. They were absolutely wonderful... but couldn't understand at first how I go to be in my neighbor's kitchen. My in-laws arrived just after the EMTs, followed by my neighbor (who had been out shopping... I looked up at her and said: "I am so sorry. I just had a baby in your kitchen!"), and then my husband (who had picked up the dog at the groomers!). My poor husband walked into a scene that had to look awful, but both the baby and I were healthy. It must have been the shock and joy of having our daughter, but I really felt no pain when our daughter was born or in the minutes following. The EMTs carefully checked over our daughter and found her to be in great health with no signs of trauma or any problems. Because our daughter was born before the EMTs arrived, they decided to use the time the ambulance arrived as her time of birth (3:47 p.m.), but my neighbor's son has told me that he thinks he was outside for atleast 5 minutes before the ambulance arrived. (NOTE: I got off the phone with my husband at 3:05 and our daughter was born less than a hour later!) Before we took off from my neighbor's house, I asked the EMTs to allow my neighbor's son to hold the baby. I wanted him to be able to see that both she and I were doing great and that he had been so helpful just by being home and able to call 911.

We then took off for the hospital by ambulance. On the way there, my husband and I agreed on her name... Abigail Catherine. (Abigail was his favorite name and Catherine is my grandmother's first name.) When we got to the hospital a team of nurses and doctors were awaiting our arrival. They checked both Abby and me out, found us both to be in great shape, and then sent us up to the labor and delivery floor to be checked out further.

We were in the hospital until Saturday evening and then came home. It was a whirlwind, but quite a birth story to be able to tell our daughter when she grows up!