Their doctor promotes natural solutions first (that is why the Hollands like him so much). He said one thing they could try is taking a fourth of a pill of a certain hormone a woman’s body naturally produces when it goes into labor. The doctor said some women it will help start contractions while it doesn’t even effect other women. Alaina was wondering if would help her or not.
Alaina took this pill thursday morning. Around 8 am Alaina started having contractions that were painful. The contractions started at 2 minutes apart from the start. It threw Loren and Alaina for a slight surprise because they were suppose to go to the doctor when the contractions got down to 5 minutes apart for an hour. Well- they started at 2 minutes apart and with enough pain that Alaina could not walk while a contraction was happening at all. She was about to go walk around the park with Loren when she realized she couldn’t even walk around the house very well anymore. They decided to do some laps around the house instead.
At 9 am they were ready to head to the clinic because the contractions were still going strong every 2 minutes apart. Thankfully the clinic they were going to was not too far away although Alaina remembers there were way too many cars on the street for her liking.
When they reached the clinic the doctor told her she was already 2 centimeters dilated. They proceeded to a room where she could labor any way she wanted. Walk around, squat, sway, or lay down. Alaina was having contractions every minute and a half by now and she stood rocking back and forth while Loren rubbed her back. The clinic nurse brought her some tea and some message oil that Loren could use. Between contractions Alaina would sip her tea and walk around the room.
By 11:45 am the contractions were much stronger and Alaina asked Loren if he could go get the doctor because she was starting not to be able to stand the pain and the contractions were only 40 or so seconds apart and lasting a minute. The doctor came in and Alaina was worried he would say she was only 3 centimeters. But the doctor and everybody was really surprised when he said she was almost fully dilated (almost 10 cm)! They said they needed to get her into the birthing room.
The first thing Alaina noticed in the birthing room was how they started filling the tub with hot water incase Alaina decided to have Zane as a water birth. She was in so much pain she sat right on the birthing stool upon entering the room. This contraption is just what it sounds like, a stool made for birthing. Alaina really liked the birthing stool because she said it felt very natural with gravity helping the pushes.
The pain was intense and the doctor told Alaina that she could be holding her baby in the next three pushes if she pushed hard. Alaina pushed like crazy and sure enough baby Zane came out at 12:15pm! The whole labor process was only about 4 hours total! She was so relieved to be holding Zane finally in her arms!
Zane was 19.25 inches long. And weighed 5lbs 11oz. His birthday is September 29th, 2011. Zane means “God’s gracious gift” in Hebrew. His middle name Gregory is his daddy’s middle name. That first night he blessed his parents with a total of 4 hours of sleep straight! Thank you God that Zane is healthy!
