The O'Hara Family: Labor Day: The Whole Story

When Sarah and I awoke on Thursday, August 10, 2006, we had no inkling of the events that would mark this day in history. In fact, as I was getting ready to leave for work, Sarah declared: "I think I'll spend the day at the mall and movie theater, because I can't think of a better way to take my mind off the waiting game."

Two days earlier, on August 8 (Sarah's original due date), Sarah's doctor had informed us that Rory still had some distance to travel in her journey from the center of Sarah's belly to the start of the birth canal, and so we scheduled a sonorgram for Friday the 11th and an hospital visit for Sunday the 13th.

So, on that fateful Thursday morning, we fully anticipated that our baby would not be making her appearance in our life for at least a few more days. Let me state that this is probably not the last time that our daughter will surprise us.

Now, in hindsight, Sarah thinks that early-stage labor might have started as early as 3 a.m., when she was awakened by a contraction that she ascribed to Braxton-Hicks (she had had these "false labor" contractions for weeks). But, unawares of what awaited her, Sarah sought sanctuary in the air-conditioned Tysons Corner mall (about 20 miles from home), where she bought a head band (which she would actually put to good use later in the day) and saw "John Tucker Must Die" (Sarah gave it 2 stars out of 4 stars: "A great diversion flick"). Sarah had back pain throughout the day (again, with the baby lying in a posterior position, this would appear to have also been a sign of early-stage labor).

Meanwhile, Sarah's parents had tried to call Sarah while she had her cell phone turned off in the movie theater. They then called me from a phone number that I didn't recognize, so I didn't pick it up while I was in a meeting at work. Our unresponsiveness led them to the conclusion that we were in labor and had just decided not to tell anyone. So Chuck called the hospital, and then he called my mom. They had left v-mails for lots of people. And when Sarah finally connected with them, she then called me to say "not to worry about all of those voice mails that you have from my parents" ....

And just as Sarah said "not to worry", she had her first "wow" contraction. The time was 2:45 p.m.

We decided that Sarah should drive home immediately and call me with an update. Everything that we had learned about labor suggested that (a) this might not really be the start of labor and (b) if it was the start of labor, it could last for a very long time. So, we were fairly nonchalant, although Sarah had 3 strong contractions in the 30 minutes that it took for her to get home.

Sarah arrived home safely and got settled on the couch when the contractions started coming with a fair degree of regularity every 10 minutes. The time was 3:30 p.m., and she called me at work to say "it's time to come home". When I arrived home a half-hour later, Sarah's contractions were coming every 8 minutes. Again, we had thought that we were going to have several hours of in-home labor before heading to the hospital (on my way home, I had asked Sarah if I should pick up something for dinner), so we had left a little packing and last-minute chores. I started running around the house to attend to those things, but I carried a pen and paper with me, so that when Sarah would feel the start of a new contraction, she would shout out "a new one has started", and I would record the time, duration of the contraction, and time between contractions. I still have the slip a paper, and it demonstrates the speed with which Sarah's labor proceeded. My first recording was at 4:35 p.m. The next contraction came 7 minutes later. The next one 6 minutes later. Then 5 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes, and so on. It was 5:15 p.m. when Sarah transitioned into active labor, only 2.5 hours after feeling the first "wow" labor earlier that afternoon.

Now, our birthing instructor had told us to wait before calling the doctor till Sarah had experienced an hour of active labor. But given the speed with which active labor had descended, and given that Sarah was beginning to vomit, we decided to give the practice a call. While Sarah was on the phone with the midwife on duty, her water broke. The time was 5:30 p.m. We loaded up the car and departed for the hospital. Thankfully, there wasn't much rush-hour traffic.

When we arrived, we were quickly taken to a labor & delivery suite, where Sarah was examined ... 5 cm dialated, 100% effaced, 0 station. The time was 6 p.m. I think that's when I realized that I had forgotten my wallet at home.

Sarah was in incredible pain given the swiftness of the contractions and the posterior position of the baby. She requested an epidural, and at 6:45 p.m. relief arrived, although not after 3 attempts to page the anesthesilogist. (After the second attempt, Sarah, in great pain, asked: "When are the drugs going to get here?" I responded: "Very soon." To which Sarah declared: "That's bullshit." The first and only expletive that my sweet Sarah would utter during her labor.)

The epidural allowed Sarah complete pain relief but a fair amount of mobility in her legs. She was able to experience the fullness of the delivery. We chatted with our parents on the phone, we watched her contractions on the monitor, and we asked lots of questions of the midwife and nurse who were helping us during this period of time. At 7:35 p.m. Sarah was 8 cm dialated. At 9:40 p.m. she was completely dialated, and she started pushing.

But about this time, Sarah started to spike a fever, and the baby's heart rate began to elevate slightly beyond normal. A doctor (Dr. K) joined the delivery team at this point to monitor the situation. After 1.5 hours of pushing, Dr. K recommended that we speed things up a bit by using a vacuum extractor (the preferred alternative to forceps among younger doctors). She would have allowed nature to take it's course for a while longer had it not been for Sarah's fever. As we got closer to the delivery, a new team of nurses attended us, including a neonatologist to examine the baby.

At 11:31 p.m., Sarah gave birth to a beautiful little girl. Only 5.5 hours had elapsed since we arrived at the hospital, and 9 hours since Sarah felt her first "wow" contraction at the mall.