VALOR KNIGHT’S BIRTHING STORY
Valor Knight came quickly. We were in the hospital room for four minutes before I was able to hold him in my arms! Yes, four minutes!
Around 10:30 am, I was having contractions requiring me to breathe them out, so I asked Dan to come over and assess where I was. At that point, I was still able to talk in-between contractions and was able to breathe through them without too much pain. Neither Dan nor I were saying out loud that I was in labor, but after seeing me, he decided to explain Olive’s routines to Grandma just in case we did go into labor.
At 12:07 pm, the contractions started to become a lot more intense, so Dan decided to call the midwives and give them a heads up. When he was on the phone with the midwives, I started my first transition contraction with a loud scream. The midwife asked if that was Carole in the background. When Dan said, “Yes,” she said, “You want to start thinking about coming to the hospital.”
At 12:23 pm our Doula arrived. During the first contraction, as she was rubbing my back, she gave Dan a look like, “We waited too long! We need to go fast!” However, out loud, Ashley said calmly that I was in transition, the third stage of labor, and we were going to move to the hospital. This was the first time anyone had officially voiced that I was in labor!
Dan quickly packed up some of the last minute things for the hospital bag and, with much support from my Doula, I walked to the car pausing with two, powerful contractions. Ashley told me right before we left the house, “You’re going to feel the urge to push, but DON’T PUSH until we get to the hospital.”
Dan quickly drove off. He drove with one hand on the steering wheel, his other hand was rubbing my back constantly. He kept encouraging me that I was doing a good job and that we would make it to the hospital. At this point, I was screaming through every contraction; feeling the urge to push but trying my best to resist. We made it into DC, hitting Sunday traffic, but after taking a few shortcuts, we finally arrived at the hospital at 1:04 pm.
Our Doula pulled in right after us, and we walked into the hospital. Upon entering the lobby, I had two contractions. During the second one, I screamed, “I am pushing!” so loud the security guard thought I was going to have the baby right there in the lobby! As everyone looked my way, she directed us to the most private area in the lobby. However, Ashley looked me in the eyes and said,” No. We’re going to make it up the elevator to the birthing floor.” I nodded as she guided me to the elevator.
As soon as we arrived to the birthing floor registration area, I let go as I could feel his head coming out. All of a sudden, nurses were running at me. I felt the baby’s head crowning as the nurses came with a wheelchair, pushed me into it, causing me to sit on his head!
The nurses rushed me into an empty birthing room at 1:11 pm. I got on the bed as the midwife arrived. I gave two pushes, and on the third push his head was out. I felt so relieved, that I stopped pushing. The midwife quickly encouraged me to keep pushing as his body still needed to come out. I gave one more push, and Valor Knight arrived into the world! He was born at 1:15 PM.
Funny/unique parts of the labor:
During transition at our house, I threw up pickles. Pickles happen to be a favorite food of mine, but I liked pickles so much more during this pregnancy. I ate them all the time including for breakfast on the Sunday morning Valor was born. The only things I ate that morning were toast, applesauce, and a pickle. Recommendation for future mothers: do not eat pickles in early labor.
As we drove off to the hospital, Dan stopped before we got out of the parking lot asking if I had my ID card. I didn’t, so he had to run back to the house and get my ID. We needed my ID to check into the hospital.
When we pulled up in front of the hospital, I saw a sign that said Ronald Reagan, and I yelled to Dan, “This is the wrong hospital.” For just a second, Dan felt panic, but quickly regaining calm, he drove in anyways. As he pulled in, it was actually the right hospital. Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking. However, I was about to have a baby! I act
After the birth, I quickly wanted to take pictures of all of the nurses in the room to remember them. Each nurse I asked said the same thing, “I didn’t do anything!” as they were not in the room for very long.
During the week before Valor’s birth, it took me forever to pack the hospital bag, wanting to make sure Dan and I had everything we might possibly need, and we didn’t even open it until the recovery room! It was actually very nice to have all of the snacks afterwards for the two days in the hospital.
After his birth the midwife showed us Valor’s umbilical cord. It actually was knotted like a pretzel. The midwife had never seen anything like it. Valor truly was in unique positions and moved around a lot in the womb!
Honoring Big Sister Olive Brave
Olive Brave loves being a big sister!
About a week after, Valor was born, I, Mommy, took Olive on a mommy/daughter date.
We got our nails done, Olive for the first time. She loved it!
