the mother of all labors

God blessed and sustained us through many long days of labor. here's the long version of Caleb's birth story, from daddy's perspective:

it started on friday august 6 with some relatively mild and regular contractions. by saturday evening, the contractions were 5 minutes apart and one minute long, and michelle was getting pretty serious. could this be it? sure looked like it. we called the doctor who said to come get checked when they were about 3 minutes apart and quite strong. after throwing up and getting a series of strong contractions around 10pm, we decided to head in. everything was already packed, so I loaded everything up and we were off, contracting regularly every three minutes.

when we got there, michelle was sure that she'd be dialated a good deal more than her checkup on friday, but alas, no progress and therefore much frustration and confusion. after a short while, we decided to head back home and try to relax during this longest part of labor (usually). the nurse at the hospital was sure we'd be back sunday morning.

it was a very long night. michelle still had regular and strong contractions. we tried every trick in the book to either help her relax or help move things along. she took a bath. we walked around the block at 4am. I talked her through relaxing as much as possible. she let me doze for a while, and then when she couldnt get me to wake up, I got a nice slap in the head. a classic moment.

but in the end there was just more frustration. we were both very tired, and she was quite exhausted. she had a hard time keeping food down. we'd run out of things to try to make things better, and we didnt want to be induced. but we were so tired. so early sunday morning we called our childbirth class teacher, who pretty much advised us to chill out. maybe this isnt the right time, so we should try to sleep and just wait for the baby's timing.

sunday and monday things calmed down a bit, but she was still contracting every ten minutes or so, and they were strong enough to keep her from sleeping. but during the day we did our best to get through it, playing games and resting as much as possible.

we had a checkup on tuesday, and she had progressed to 3cm and 90%. the doctor assured us that these days of labor would make the last stages much easier, once again proving that although he's the kindest doctor we know, he's not much of a prophet. but that was enough to send us home happier.

tuesday evening things started picking up again. the contractions were getting harder and closer, and being first-timers, we didnt want to get caught at home or on the road, so we packed up the stuff and went to get checked again. we werent sure if we'd be heading home again or not, but we wanted to be safe. when we got there, there was no change from our checkup that day, which led to more sadness and frustration. why was this so hard yet not effective? so we headed home once more, figuring we'd be able to better relax there.

but a few hours after we got home, contractions got even harder and even closer, and we knew it was finally time to go in and not come home without a baby. we didnt care if there was no progress from before. we were going, and we were staying. just making the descision was a big lift.

so we checked in at midnight tuesday/wednesday and she was still 3 cm. we called our parents and our childbirth class teacher Stephanie. she came to be with us to help us through, and she stayed all night. even when she arrived she looked amazingly tired, but she never complained. always encouraging and helpful, we can't thank her enough. through her class and help, we know that we were able to make the best choices we could.

knowing michelle needed to relax, we got her in the whirlpool tub while we waited for the doctor to arrive. after only 10 minutes in the water, she progressed to 6 cm! maybe things would happen quickly now? michelle was of course exhausted, but we were hopeful.

excited by our progress, we had her water broken to see if things would continue to move along quickly. but that complicated things, since there was meconium (baby's first bowel movement) in the fluid. this isn't unusual, but it can cause complications. in severe cases, a c-section is performed right away, but since there wasnt much in our case, the doctor ordered baby and michelle to be constantly monitored.

unfortunately this meant that she couldnt go in the shower, and she couldnt move around and do the other things we've learned that help relax her and progress labor. so she rocked in the rocking chair for about 5 hours, contractions getting ever stronger, but remaining at 6 cm. she would have spells of anxiety and discouragement, but I kept trying to keep her spirits up, thinking that she would have her second (third? fourth?) wind when it was time to push.

but since she hadnt progressed, the doctor wanted to start intervening with pitocin and/or and epidural. since we wanted to do things as naturally as possible, we came to a difficult point. we were all exhausted, and things werent moving along. but he let her get in the shower to relax a bit and see if things would progress, and she did get to 7 cm. so he said she'd earned another hour to see if things would happen on its own.

this was what we wanted, but when faced with it, we knew it wasnt what we wanted anymore. she was so very exhausted, after 4+ days of labor, she knew she couldnt go any farther. she didnt want to face another contraction, as each was draining her whole body, despite her best efforts to relax through it all. so after much discussion, we finally decided to get an epidural so we could rest for the delivery.

having been dedicated to natural childbirth, this decision was very difficult for us. she had made it so long and done so very well, we almost felt like we were giving up. but we were reminded that we needed to make the best decision for our particular labor, and soon as we decided, we knew it was best.

so she got the epidural and we promptly slept for 3+ hours. during this time, my parents had arrived at the hospital, and we invited my mom to witness the birth. when the nurse came to check on michelle, she was a little surprised: she was 10cm, and the baby was crowning! I looked and could see his hair! we were almost there. they quickly summoned the doctor, and our birthing suite was suddenly transformed into a hospital room.

energized by sleep and the excitement of finally seeing our son, michelle was ready to push. she was such a good pusher, and the baby was so far along, that it only took 3 contractions and about 10 minutes of pushing before he was out! his little cries filled the room (and didnt stop for about an hour) and we were all sobbing with joy.

because of the meconium, they had to quickly give him deep suction and oxygen and all that good stuff, so I didnt get to cut the cord. but soon enough he was in our arms, breathing his first air.

so Caleb Robert Wiegers came into the world at 11:11am on August 11, 2004. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and measured 22 inches long. He looks a lot like his daddy, with a good portion of his mama too, and has lots of long dark hair. every last health report and checkup has been great, for which we are very thankful.

we praise God for this miracle that He has given us.