Elizabeth's Birth Story - Part 1

We begin our story with a routine checkup from Dr. Thompson at Oasis Hospital on the 16th of June, 2010. He told us that everything was going beautifully and business as usual. Where this was her 38th week appointment, he asked to check whether or not Catherine’s cervix had softened at all, and if so, he could put pressure on the inner cervix line to encourage the release of prostaglandins (the hormones that cause labor).

It seemed a little forward to me, but I gave him the go ahead as long as he could guarantee that baby Ethington (hereafter known as “baby”) would be born on the 21st of June (a Solstice baby, like me). He wouldn’t make any guarantees, but we went ahead with it anyway. After making the check, he told us that Catherine was softened on the outer layer of the cervix, but the inner layer was still closed in a conical form, and therefore he would not be able to apply pressure to the cervix.

Before we left, Catherine mentioned that she hadn’t felt baby move all morning, and Dr. Thompson recommended that we have a CTG scan done just to make sure everything was on the up and up. The CTG uses two sensors that are placed on the womb. The first is placed close to the cervix and measures the baby’s heart beat. The second is placed higher up on the stomach and measures contractions below (by measuring the tightening of the muscles up top).

Needless to say, we were a little concerned about not hearing from our little girl for a little while, but her heart beat looked regular – 120 to 160 range, 140 average. Turns out she was just taking a break from her famous karate kicks, sucker punches, and head butts for a spell.

I picked the wrong day to be away from the office, as the Ministry of Presidential Affairs had some urgent issues to be addressed regarding the Federal Funding Formula – a small misunderstanding that could have cost Higher Education tens of millions of dollars. Dr. Spencer was uncharacteristically uneasy about my absence and made frequent calls to see if I would be coming back anytime soon. I played down the fact that we were concerned about baby’s safety and running some tests. Remarkably, I was able to resolve all of the issues between Presidential Affairs and the State Audit Institution by the end of the day.

Alright, so that’s all the boring stuff. Here’s where the fun begins. I returned home to find that Catherine had just completed her first attempt at Carrot Curry soup and spinach feta burgers. Since the soup was more the consistency of a yucky paste, we opted for her spinach feta burgers straight up. It had been a difficult day for Catherine with the anxiety from a non-responsive baby, so we resolved to play several games of Carcassonne and watch a movie after polishing off our fancy sliders. Let the record show that I handily beat Catherine on the first game of Carcassonne, and she utterly wasted me on the second.

(carrot curry soup)

At around 9:00 PM, we decided that a snuggle and pedicure (for me) was in order. Did I just say that? Catherine was still feeling pretty sensitive, so we cuddled in bed and talked about all sorts of things – baby, work, vacations, parenting, more baby, etc. Once the right side of her body had fallen asleep, we changed positions so she could be on her left side for a while (ergo, my side of the bed).

Around 11:00 PM, I said something funny and Catherine started to laugh, but abruptly exclaimed, “Richard, I wet the bed!” “Huh? Do you mean, you wet your pants?” I responded dubiously. Then I looked down at the sheets at a shimmery pool of waters even a racehorse would envy. We both jumped up and I dashed for a towel from the bathroom. I returned to the bedroom to see Catherine. Rigid. Puzzled look on her face. Streams of fluid coming out of her body. I’m gonna need more towels. Catherine stripped down and charged for the shower as she exclaimed, “save the mattress!” I went to rescue the mattress and covers, and instantly we both knew we were going to have to change our plans for the night.