Wow, what an incredible couple of days. I followed Danika to bed after my last post. She seemed to be resting well, and for the first half hour or so was, but soon after that her contractions picked up. About a half hour later (around 1am) her water broke. We called Tina and the doctor and then started getting ready to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 2am.
Danika's labor was progressing really well up until I passed out around 6:30am. Yep, that's right, I passed out. I was standing behind Danika (who was sitting on a birthing ball) supporting her when I felt light headed and a bit nauseous. I started to ask her to move so I could get out from behind her and the next thing I know I was laying on the floor with the nurse asking if I was okay. They asked me to stay still and told me that someone was coming up from the ER with a gurney. They had me drink some juice and after someone checked me over, I asked if I could sit up. I sat up and eventually was allowed to stand up.
Once they people from the ER showed up they put a neck collar on me and strapped me to a backboard. So, at that point I was standing up strapped to a backboard with a neck collar... and then I felt nauseous and puked. They wheeled me down to the ER and started doing some tests. The whole time all I could think was that I was going to miss the birth and that I was letting Danika down by not being able to be there. The ER people knew that I had come down from the birthing center, so they were extremely nice and put me to the front of the line. I eventually got a saline IV and some anti-nausea meds. My tests all came back negative for anything heart related and in the end they figured I was just lacking sleep and food and that mixed with the excitement caused me to pass out. I finally took me back to Danika (in a wheel chair) around 8:30am and we tried to get her contractions going again.
We kept going and going. Danika did such a great job and I was reminded what a strong woman she is and how determined woman she can be. About 24 hours after it all started we were finally blessed with a beautiful baby boy!
We finally figured out his name, Ingraham (Graham) Smythe Litke (Ingraham is Danika's grandmother's maiden name, Smythe is my mom's maiden name). When he was born he weighed 7 lb 14 oz and was 20½ in long.
We are all doing great and can't wait to get back home.
