Car Birth Story

My birth plan was to labor at home, be admitted to the hospital and labor for a few more hours until delivery of our baby girl… she had other plans. 

I had been in prodromal labor for the past couple of days- where labor starts for a couple of hours and then dissipates! My husband had told me that morning, “Don’t try to be a super hero, let’s not have our baby girl at home.” My response, “I wouldn’t do that, I know what I’m doing! I’m a labor nurse!”

My contractions became regular at 1:00pm when I was putting my toddler down for a nap. At 2:00pm I got in the tub to help relax and felt excited as the contractions continued… at 2:23pm I made up my mind that this was the real deal and texted my mom and sister! I got out of the tub and told my husband- we decided together I could labor for another hour or so at home while our toddler napped and we cleaned up and loaded the car!…This is usually a reasonable plan for most laboring mamas!  

But, the contractions intensified very quickly. At 2:45pm I called my friend to have her come over to be with our toddler as I felt we did not have any more time to wait! At 3:00pm we left the house for the 25 minute drive to the hospital. My husband turned on my laboring playlist and dramatically picked up speed as I told him I believed I was in transition (when a woman goes from 7cm to 10cm). He called OB triage and told them to meet us at the front of the hospital just in case!

I began moaning and groaning and felt the need to push! I tried every breathing technique to try not to push and instinctively lifted my right leg to squat on the seat while leaning over on my husband in the driver’s seat. I had packed my pillow and threw that on the ground in front of me just in case!

My water broke and there was no stopping my body…or her! There was no where to pull over. She was born at 3:11pm just as we were exiting for the hospital! 

She is named after her two great, great grandmothers who were nurses. I have no doubt they were near to help. 

A huge thank you to the UNM hospital staff who did an incredible job at taking care of us!