The Birth Story -

April 29, 2006 will be a day that Amber and I will never forget. This was the day that our first baby came into this world. My name is James A. Downing III and I'm married to my wonderful wife of almost three years. Our relationship is a product of the dot.com boom and we joke that we have dot.com love. Amber is not only my wife, but my best friend and as of yesterday she became the mother of my first child.

Around 1:00 in the morning of Saturday the 29th Amber started to experience a few contractions that were a step up from the ones that she had been experiencing off and on since Wednesday. Our baby was due on the 28th and that day had come and gone with only mild contractions. Amber new that things were starting to progress, but she let me sleep, as we had stayed up late the night before watching a movie.

At 4:45 a.m. Amber jumped out of bed, which startled me, because since she has been pregnant she doesn't jump out of anything. I was startled and asked her what was wrong. "My water just broke!” She made it into the bathroom with only a few drops on the carpet and a mild splosh on the bathroom floor. I got up rather quickly and thought to myself, what do I do?!? Then I said, "We're gonna have a baby today"

Amber and I milled around the house for almost an hour. I finish putting up my work stuff from the previous day and Amber gathered up the last minute items that we would take to the Birthing Center. Amber was still moving around pretty good and I went to take a quick shower. When I returned she was on the glider and was obviously going through a contraction that at the time might have seemed strong, but she would have traded that contraction for those that would follow.

After a few more contractions, Amber wanted to get in a hot bath to see if that slowed down the labor at all. We were instructed by our midwife’s to wait until we had regular contractions about 2-3 minutes apart, even in the tub. After about 6 good contractions that met all the criteria for an immanent birth, I called the Austin Area Birth Center around 7:00 a.m. to let them know that we were heading out. We live South so I knew that it would take about 25 minutes to drive there and Amber was having good strong contractions and it was going to take some time to get her out of the tub and into the car.

We arrived at the Austin Area Birthing Center to be welcomed at the door by Roswitha and another contraction. After a good 2 minute contraction Amber made her way from the car into the Santa Fe Room. Although we arrived in good time and didn't run into much traffic, later Amber would tell me that it wasn't the best car ride she had ever experienced. Nature never intend for laboring moms to wear seat belts!

After a few contractions sitting on the bed and me kneeling on the floor, we made our way into the large and wonderful tub that they have in the room. Amber stayed on her knees with her arms on the side and the contractions were much stronger than anything that she had experience thus far. I remember Amber telling me that she wasn't sure if she wanted to have a natural birth the next time around. I smiled and said, "Just concentrate on this birth; we can worry about the next one later". I have to admit that I felt a little helpless at times when Amber was contracting. I wanted to reach inside her body and steel the pain, just long enough to let her catch her breath, but since that is not my mutant power, all I could do was hold her hand, rub her shoulders and tell her that she was doing a great job.

Amber is a really strong woman and she was the one that wanted to have this baby naturally and she was certainly up for the challenge, but everyone has their breaking point and Amber's came while she was in the tub. She really needed something that would take the edge off and being that I could only experience her pain vicariously through her I could only support her decision. Roswitha asked Amber to try to have a few more contractions, but I could tell that she needed something to give her just a little relief. Roswitha administered a nice strong "cocktail" of newbain and after about 5 minutes I could tell that Amber was a little more comfortable, but this was no epidural and she was still experiencing the power of child birth.

We moved to a squatting position that made Amber feel more comfortable. We stayed in this position for at least an hour and Roswitha used the Doppler to monitor the baby’s heart rate. She mentioned that it was a little low, but that the heart rate was steady. The worry would have been if the heart rate drop even lower after the contraction. She thought that there was a possibility that the cord was wrapped around the neck or there was just too much pressure on the baby's head based on the position that Amber was in. We tried to move to the bed and have Amber lie on her right side to move the baby a little more, but Amber was just too uncomfortable in that position and we moved back to squatting. Roswitha continued to monitor the heart and it was just getting too low. Amber was fully dilated and ready to start pushing, but we needed to get into a better position for the baby.

We moved back to the bed and Amber was on her knees with her Arms and head on the birthing ball (which is much like a large beach ball). Roswitha wanted Amber to get down on her elbows to put more arch in her back, but this position made the contractions start and Amber really needed a break before she started to push, and it was clear that the newbain had worn off. This was the most time between the contractions that I could remember since we left the house. I have to say that I was starting to get a little worried, but I knew that it wasn't going to do anyone any good to express that concern. I needed to stay strong for Amber, which would result in both of us being strong for our baby. I fully trusted Roswitha and knew that a transfer to the hospital would have been serious, but it would have been the right thing for our baby. The last thing that I wanted for Amber at this point was to put her back in a car. I knew that Roswitha wanted Amber to have this baby as intended and that we were going to give it the old college try a few more times before we made another move.

When we moved to be bed, Stephanie arrived to assist Roswitha. Stephanie’s arrival couldn't have come at a better time. I know that having that extra coach and another person in the room with experience made me feel better. Stephanie is studying acupuncture and she used some pressure points on the little toes and the back of the calf to stimulate the contractions.

The first strong contraction came and it was the first glimmer of hope that this baby was going to be born naturally in just a short time. It was clear that Roswitha was satisfied with the progress that the baby was making and the heart rate was starting to climb. As a drummer and someone that spends a lot of time, keeping time, I could tell just from listening that the beat was getting stronger each time she monitored.

Roswitha had Amber flip over on her back and this was the last position that we were in before we greeted our new baby. Amber contracted and started to push and the babies head crowned and our Bradley Method Instructor was correct when she told us that it wouldn't look anything like a head, but it was there and I could see his dark black hair. Stephanie got a mirror so that Amber could see and I think that gave her a spark of adrenaline that helped her through the next few contractions. Roswitha was determined, as was everyone else in the room that we were going to be greeting this baby very shortly, but I think that our baby was a little less determined than we were. On the next contraction the head got much closer and Roswitha got in there a little more to help the head out. On the following contraction there was a head, a very pink head that was turning very purple. A purple that reminded me of the little girl that eats the grape candy in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roswitha said, only the way that a midwife from Germany can say, "Ve must get zees baby out . . . now Amber PUSH!!!" . . . then a shoulder and then a full baby and BAM, like Emril and his spices we had a family andgreetedated our new baby boy.sputteredterd a bit and Roswitha suctioned him and then we got a good cry and his color went back to pink and I knew that everything was going to be okay and Amber had done it and the team wasuccesscess.

I felt toverwhelmingming gush of emotion. I knew that I would cry and I can't imagine any father not crying at the birth of his baby. But as the gush came it pushed out only one tear and then I felt like Hide from Raising Arizona when they bring home Nathan Jr. to the trailer and he says, "what are you serious, we got ourselves a family"

For the rest of the day it was house cleaning and baby loving. Amber did loose quite a bit of blood and she started to feel a little light headed and they put her on a fluids IV. (I'm not really sure what it was, but it made her feel much better). I warmed up some food for Amber and she had a pretty good meal and then it was time for a baby exam and measurements. He was 8 Pounds 5 Ounces and was 21 inches from head to toe. Everything seemed to be in the right place and working correctly. Tristan James got a nice bath and later Amber made it to the shower. After everyone was dressed we went through the exit interview with Stephanie and loaded up the car and headed home. We made a quick stop at the drive through. Amber was on a pretty strict diet during her pregnancy, which forbid McDonald's french fries, and sometime you just need those darn french fries.