Our Little Lion- Ander's Birth Story

My mom flew in from AZ to work her magic on Friday, Aug 30^th. She arrived at around 1 pm and we promptly went walking around the nearby outlet mall for several hours. We went to dinner at 6:30 and during the meal I started noticing stronger, deeper contractions that were pretty regular. I didn’t think they were real contractions because I had just been measured at 1.5 cm dilated 2 days prior and my doctor was thinking I would deliver after my due date (Sep 5^th). I started timing them at about 5-6 minutes apart. Mom decided we needed to do more walking (ha ha) and so, of course, we went and did more shopping. The contractions got so uncomfortable that I couldn’t walk normally. At around 9 pm I called my doctor and he said I could head to the hospital at any time. I wanted to labor at home as long as possible to avoid the use of medication so he told me I could wait until they were about three minutes apart. We went home and watched a movie (How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days) to distract me from the stronger, more painful contractions. They stopped coming regularly and I started to feel like maybe I had misjudged true labor. I got super sleepy and went to bed at 10:30. I got about two hours of uncomfortable rest before counting the contractions again. They were 5-6 minutes apart again and much more painful. I knelt down over my birthing ball for each contraction and Brandon was able to help me with counter pressure on my lower back. A few hours later I tried laboring in the bathtub. Finally at 5 am, with my contractions 3-4 minutes apart, I thought we should head to the hospital. They hooked me up to monitor the contractions and measured me at 6.5 cm dilated. At this point, I was seriously tempted to ask for some drugs. But Brandon was there, and with his help, I knew I could do it. The song, “A Child’s Prayer” ran through my head over and over and was such a comfort to me. An hour later I was 7 cm dilated and my water broke. Soon after that I got in the tub again, hoping the jets would ease my back pain. Brandon was the most amazing coach during the whole process. He was continually pouring water over my tummy and chest, putting counter pressure on my shoulders, and giving me verbal affirmations. After an hour in the tub I felt like I really needed to go to the bathroom but as I sat over the toilet, I suddenly realized what everyone had meant by, “You’ll know when it’s time to push”. Holy Hannah. I quickly made my way back to bed and started pushing (and yelling in pain...oops). I heard the nurses saying that Ander’s heart rate was pretty low and slipping lower. I also heard them on the phone with my doctor, telling him he was going to miss it if he didn’t hurry (he was in the parking lot). When he arrived, he let me know that Ander’s heart rate was really low (at one point as low as 58) and that I was going to have to have an emergency c-section or I had to push him out right away. They put an oxygen mask on me and I pushed harder than I’ve ever pushed for anything. After two more pushes, he was out. The first thing I heard was, “Look at that hair!” Ha ha. After making sure his heart rate was back to normal, they put him on my chest. What a glorious moment. Through tears of relief and pure joy, I started talking to Ander and right away, he looked up at me. As they stitched me up, Brandon and I marveled over our little angel. Ander Dare McCloskey was born on Saturday, Aug 31^st at 7:07 am at 9 lbs, 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. His name means lion man, warrior, or manly. We have discovered that we named him well as he often roars like a lion. Brandon said our next kid should be named after a humming bird. HA HA!