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This is a second child born out of State at a Birth Center

Birth Center Delivery of Caleb Joseph, 10-10-2000

My eyes opened to see 7:00 on the clock. I turned to my husband and said, “Today is the day.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Of course I am. There’s no mistaking labor pains,” I replied, and added, “I want to go to morning Mass.”

Granny -- Greg’s mom -- had arrived by plane two days earlier and Casey (age 18 months) had gotten re-acquainted with her enough to be happy when Mommy and Daddy were away. At 8:30, Greg and I were in the church pew and I was glancing at my watch to check how close my contractions were. My first labor had been 11 hours, so I figured this one would be similar, but I’d had a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions for several nights and when I woke up at 7am, the pains were pretty intense.

It was a Tuesday morning and fortunately, daily Masses only lasts 30 minutes; by the time we got to the Consecration, which required kneeling, I had to pace the side aisle. All the old ladies came up to me afterward, saying, “You better get yourself to a hospital!” But I was waiting for the priest to change out of his vestments so that he could bless a small pillar candle I had bought for the occasion.

Father Paschal said a beautiful blessing for the candle – and for me and the baby – and I was on my way back home. I called the midwife and told her I was in labor. She wanted to know the details, but I hadn’t officially timed my contractions yet. I had estimated they were about 5 minutes apart during Mass. She asked if I had any urge to push and I said yes. She said to call her back in an hour and see how I was doing then. I hung up the phone and struggled with myself. I KNEW I was in labor and I knew I had to leave NOW – the center was 30 minutes away. I found out later that she didn’t take me seriously because I “sounded so good on the phone”. So I went through the formality of timing – 3 minutes apart and over 90 seconds in length. Then I called and tried to nicely say, “I’m leaving now. Be there when I arrive.”

I said good-bye to my boy and made the trip to the center. At 9:30am, the roads were pretty clear and the sky was too. I was breathing deeply, trying not to push in the car. When we arrived at 10am, the midwife was not yet there due to traffic in her area), but luckily a different one was available – it happened to be Lisa from my first delivery! She checked my dilation and said, “Well, whenever you’re ready to push….” I asked, “I’m 10 cm already?” She assured me that I was. I had Greg light the blessed candle, while I breathed through the next contraction, remembering how very difficult it was to push out my first baby. I clenched my husband’s hand while I lied on the bed; with the next tightening, as he and Lisa pushed my knees to my ears, I channeled all my energy into pushing that baby through the canal. I actually felt the baby descend! I was amazed at making instant progress. I pushed again and the whole baby just came flying out! Lisa caught him, of course, and placed him on my belly, then covered him with a towel.

This kid was so big, the towel would not cover all of him; either his arm was hanging out, or his feet were exposed. He was a beautiful pink baby color and so plump! I held his head near my heart. His eyes were shut tight and he was crying. Real tears were going down his cheeks! I rocked him and comforted him, me crying from joy myself. I nursed him and he instantly knew what to do and was comforted. Caleb Joseph weighed in at 10 lbs, 4 ozs and was 23 inches long. He was born at 10:25am on 10-10-2000. I guess 10 is his lucky number!