Sariah J. Maloney:

Welcome baby “sparkle”! Our children, Nathan (age 7½), McKenna (age 5½) and Logan (age 2½) nicknamed their baby “sparkle” and thought the baby was a girl – well, they were right! Since we choose to not have any ultrasound radiation during our pregnancies, the gender of the baby was unknown until the birth - or only unknown to the adults! The children had full faith about whom God was sending to our family!

Given our history of quick labors, we were approaching baby “sparkle’s” labor with much trepidation! In order to calm ourselves and increase our confidence in preparing for this labor, we began to pray to know when the baby would be coming and to have time to tend to the children and make it to the hospital. Well, our prayers were certainly answered!!

I was up Friday night from 1am - 4am with 10-minute apart contractions; we knew "sparkle" was giving us a warning of things to come. I never woke up Ken because the contractions were not severe nor did they get closer together, but they did last over a minute! Sometime after 4am, I fell asleep and woke up a few times with contractions, but went right back to sleep. At 6am, I asked Ken to stay home from work. I showered and had breakfast and continued to have 10-minute apart contractions. I took a nap from 7am - 9am and noticed, when I got up, the contractions had stopped. So, I home schooled Nathan and McKenna, made a grocery list and sent Ken to go shopping. Still no contractions – so when Ken returned from the store he went to work. I took Nathan to his martial arts class at 4pm and had a few Braxton-Hicks. Came home, made dinner… blah, blah, blah. Oh well, I guess it was my time to learn about pre-labor, and I was actually quite excited to know what it felt like.

That night, our prayers were that I would either have the baby or get some sleep, but not to repeat the previous night’s events. Again, our prayers were answered when I (at 39 4/7 weeks pregnant) slept from 11pm – 4:30am without waking up!

I felt like a new woman on Saturday morning!! So the plan was for that day to go through the motions of nesting. We organized, rearranged, cleaned… and had a great day! Later that night during dinner, I had more Braxton-Hicks. I didn’t have any more contractions until a BIG one at 10:30pm. I waited a few minutes to see if there were more – nope. But my back was sore and uncomfortable, so we prepared for bed and Ken rubbed my back. THIS is when the real contractions began – 11pm. The contractions would begin with the baby moving (not fun!), then lots of pressure in the pelvis, then pain in the low back which went around to the front of the uterus. Each contraction lasted well over 90 seconds. However, they were coming every 10-12 minutes. We waited for some sign of intensification so we could judge labor. It was a very confusing time. It wasn’t until just before midnight that I had a contraction that let us know we were moving quickly through labor – again the baby moved, the contraction began and at the same time I began to feel a warm sensation go from my pelvis, up my back to my neck. At the end of the contraction, my legs felt shaky. Ken called my parents to come be with the other three children and also phoned the midwife. The next three contractions brought more shaking.

We left for the hospital at 12:15am and arrived at 12:27am. I was 9cm dilated, 100% effaced and at 0 station. I had three more contractions in the LDR and then began to push. She was born after 5 pushes. She weighed 9 pounds 12 ounces and measured 20.5 inches.

I’m still amazed at the differences in ALL my labors! And this one with “sparkle” was certainly the most confusing – even for such an experienced couple as we thought we were!

For more information on The Bradley Method^®, for an international listing of instructors, or to contact the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth^® directly, please contact: The Bradley Method^®, Box 5224, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413-5224 - (800) 4-A-BIRTH or (818) 788-6662 - www.bradleybirth.com