The Story

Thanks for all the well wishes and congrats, everyone! We are doing well, despite the barfy's from boys and a baby who has her days and nights mixed up. Oh the joys of parenthood.So here is the story of Savannah's crazy arrival into this world. Josh's says I should start it out "It was a dark and stormy night", because, well, it was. :) Sunday night at about 10:45pm, Josh and I were getting into bed. He said something that made me laugh as I was rolling over, and as I was doing so I felt a little tick inside me. I said to Josh "either my water just broke or I am peeing my pants". He didn't believe me and asked "are you sure?" As I went to get up and more water came out I said "umm, yeah my water broke". So then you ask that's when you left, right? Nope, I did what any good woman would do before having a baby, I put my make-up on. I was not looking like the dead for those pictures. (Which didn't matter after all because we forgot the camera in all the commotion. Grr.) And then you ask you left then, right? Nope. I then cleaned the toilets. They were nasty and I was not having my BIL Kevin who stayed the night with the boys or my MIL Kathy who stayed the next 2 days with the boys see them like that. While all this was going on my contractions started but they weren't very bad. Which was a very normal labor for me. Thinking this would be like my others, I figured I had at least 8-10 hours before a baby would be born. My back was killing me so I got in the bath and spent a few hours there while Josh snored in bed. Hey, there was really nothing he could do right now, so I told him to try and get some sleep. From the sound of his snoring he did just that. After sometime of this (I have no clue how long or short it was) I woke Josh up and told him to have my Doula, Yvonne come over now, I needed her. Maybe 10 minutes later I told him to call Kevin over 'cause we needed to go soon. By the time Kevin got there I was hurting BAD and thinking I have to do this in the car for over 30 minutes? (That's how far away the hospital was. Maybe even longer with the pouring rain outside.). We left and Josh called Yvonne to tell her to head to the hospital instead of our home. Just after passing the exit to the closer hospital I said really loudly to Josh you need to go back. NOW. He looked at me a said "why". I turned to him and said sternly "she is coming NOW. You need to go back, NOW". The next exit was Devonshire and I knew we would be back tracking for a bit because of how the freeways are right there. As we were pulling of the off-ramp there was a cop car just sitting there on the side of the road. And said even louder this time "pull over! Pull over and tell those cops I am having a baby!". Josh pulled over and while climbing out I said "hurry! I have to push!" Josh looked at me with the only worried look he had the whole time and said "NO! No pushing, Michelle! Don't.". Yeah. Tell that to my body. It was doing it on it's own. When he came back with the cops (this is where it gets kinda comical. These guys were newbies, about 25-27 years of age, who had no kids and had never even seen childbirth before). This tells you how they didn't even know what they were doing, one of them says to me as I am moaning really, REALLY loudly through a contraction, "How far apart are your contractions, mam?". Josh turns to him and says "I really don't think she can answer that question right now". HA! Josh then asks if they have a kit or something and they said no. Nice. He then asked if they had any gloves and that they did so the went to get them. I turned to Josh and said "this is really embarrassing, but I need you to take my pants off". He helped me with that and then climbed in the drivers seat to be next to me. The cops came back and handed Josh the gloves. He looked at them and said "oh, I am delivering the baby?" Josh said the cop had this look on his face of surprise that Josh would even assume that he was going to catch the baby. So Josh and the cop switched places while the other cop held a flashlight. Yeah, he was a busy one. The poor guy next to me is lucky that he had a raincoat on because I was squeezing his arm so tight I think I might have drawn blood otherwise. Josh said neither of them would look "down there" and that they both had terrified/grossed out looks. They both kept saying "where the heck are the paramedics!". Yeah, they really wanted to be there. Gotta brag about my hero of a husband for a moment and say he really cant stand childbirth. He tells me all the time he wishes it was still like in the '50's when dads just waited outside until the baby was born. But despite all this he did amazing. He coached me, encouraged me, and was ready to catch our baby, all while standing in the rain next to our car. About 2-5 minutes before she was born the paramedics/fire department showed up. Josh said the cops were outa there in 2 minutes flat once the others showed up! LOL! Josh climbed in the back seat behind me while some paramedic climbed in next to me and another took Josh's place ready to catch our baby. These guys came prepared with tarps and towels galore. Thank goodness. Between each contraction I would say to Josh "I am so sorry about the car!". He kept saying "it's okay, it's okay". Finally he said "stop worrying about the car! I'm not!" Just before she was born Josh's phone started ringing. Josh looked at me and said "there's Yvonne. She is probably at the hospital and wondering where we are". Then our little girl was born. First thing Josh said? "Is it a girl?!" Love him! Josh and I both agree that the paramedics and firefighters were much more concerned with us seeing her and holding her then any of the nurses at the hospitals that we have had our babies at. They kept asking me "can you see her? Did you see her chubby face? Here, hold her." It was great.While mommy had one leg on the dashboard and the other on the firefighters leg, Savannah Camille was born with the cord wrapped around her neck in the passenger seat of our 2004 Dodge Intrepid, on the Devonshire off-ramp off the 405 freeway, in the rain and wind and cold.

I have had so many strange questions regarding this event, my baby being born in the car. (No Kates, we were not out for a joy ride. ;)). I think the best on has been (and it has been asked many times) WHY? Seriously. Why, you asked? WHY did I have my baby in the car?! Instead of the most obvious answers or awesome comebacks one could give to this question. My final answer is this:
Just trying to keep it real.
That's all.