The arrival of Rowan

The arrival of Rowan Josef Tait

This is the story of the birth of our son. He was born at 2:13 am on Sunday, July 8^th 2007.

Our experience began early in the morning on July 7^th. Heidi awoke at 2:30am and her water broke moments later in the bathroom. After a flurry of calls to wake up our midwife, Carrington, and Heidi’s mom, Carol, we returned to sleep with excitement about the coming hours and the expectation that the contractions would begin soon.

At 7:30 we got out of bed, having slept the night away without any contractions. Far away in Norfolk Va, Carol was picking up Heidi’s aunt Jean and the two of them were beginning the long trip into North Carolina.

After getting up Heidi called Carrington, who was already in Lenoir delivering another baby. We were directed to come see her at 10:30. A rush of packing, scripting of birth plans, and putzing around the house ensued and at 10:30 we pulled out of the drive with anxiousness.

It was purely by chance that on Friday afternoon we had gone to Baby’s R Us to pick up a few last minute items. That evening I had cleaned the car and installed the baby seat. So the car was ready to go even if we thought we would have the remaining week until Rowan’s due date to prepare.

We arrived at Caldwell Memorial hospital a little after 11am. Carrington examined Heidi and told us the she was 3 cm dilated and 75% effaced. Heidi was still not having contractions and Carrington recommended that we walk the halls, and use other natural birthing techniques to stimulate the contractions.

Carol and Jean arrived at 2:30, bringing renewed excitement and homemade ceremonial hats . Jean stepped up the walking pace and tore loops through the limited track of the Family Birthplace. Heidi’s hair was swept back as they rounded the turns and tried to encourage the baby to come.

Another exam at 4pm showed that Heidi had only changed a little and she still hadn’t had a real contraction. Carrington recommended that we get things going with an IV that would supply some pitosin. We agreed that this was the right choice for us and the nurse proceeded to stick Heidi’s apparently vein-less arm.

The “pit” worked, immediately the contractions came and came hard. Jean and Carol sang songs from girl scouts, and Heidi settled into using Bradley method techniques for relaxation.

The contractions continued throughout the evening and by 10 o’clock had become strong enough and her cervix dilated enough that Carrington thought it was time to try pushing.

And Heidi pushed. She pushed with everything she had for nearly three hours. The baby however was positioned in such a way that he simply would not come through the pelvis. No matter what we tried he wouldn’t budge and by 2 am Heidi was exhausted and it was clearly time to try something else. The doctor was called in and confirmed that our only option was a C section.

The contractions kept coming as Heidi was prepped for surgery and the nurses scrubbed in.

A healthy, and loud, Rowan was pulled into a bright world at 2:13am and since then has settled into a comfortable pattern of feeding and sleeping. He is joy to be with and has made both of us very happy parents.

Thanks for all of your support

Adrian, Heidi, and Rowan