HAVING A BABY DURING A FULL MOON

October 8th, 11:30pm and Valerie is knee deep in labor at this point.

It all started at 11:30am when the doctor induced Val with Cytotek to relax things a bit and hopefully start the contractions. After the second dose, contractions indeed began. We were 6 hours into the process before things began to happen.

With birthing classes under our belt and an open mind, Val decided it would help our child if she went without medicine as long as possible. This way she could help keep drugs out of the baby’s system and be alert to do everything she needed for the baby.

3 1/2 hours went by. She faced every contraction with determination. She knew it was in the best interest of Bean. I coached her through each contraction. And they came at 3 minute intervals. As they increased, she went deeper and deeper inside herself. When I would ask her a question, I would have to put my ear next to her lips to hear her answer. But every time I asked her to take a deep breath and release it she would. Every time I asked her to stand up, or sit down or lie down she did it quietly, slowly and deliberately. Still, she never complained. She just closed her eyes and kept breathing. The nurses were amazed as we later found out that most women who need to be induced skip the natural childbirth idea and go straight for the drugs.

After 2 hours of quiet determination with her head down and slow breathing, Val suddenly looked up, her eyes were bleary but steely, she looked at the nurse full of Irish attitude and said, “Is this what they call labor?” The nurse was taken aback and stuttered, “Uh, well, it’s...yes...this is labor....how strong is still yet to be determined until we measure the cervix.” Val had heard enough and plopped her head back down, went silent and started breathing with purpose again.

At the end of the 3 1/2 hours, Val said, I’m interested in an epidural but I don’t want to be wimpy. Is it wimpy to get one now? I stayed quiet because I didn’t want to answer a question that only she could answer. The nurse agreed it wasn’t wimpy at all. Val had the presence of mind to ask a few pertinent questions and then decided she was ready. I took a walk while the doctors put the epidural needle in and came back to a smiling pregnant wife. It was like night and day difference.

As the night wore on, more and more pregnant women came into the birthing center. This morning the nurse told us their was a big influx of patients because it was a full moon. Val and I looked at each other and Val whispered, “Have you ever heard of a red headed werewolf?” I shuddered to think of such. “Let’s just birth this baby and worry about which barbershop to take him to later.” And with that she turned over and took a nap.

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