Eden's Story

There is so much to talk about with Eden's story. Sarah has covered much of the prelude with her last blog, but so much has also happened in the past month! To say that God provides would be an understatement. We found a new home, a new hospital, a new doctor for Sarah, and a new pediatrician...all within the first week of starting my new job. And then, with the help of our wonderful family and friends, we were able to move into that home just nine days before Eden was born (talk about timely provision!). I could go on about the three weeks between starting my new job and Eden's birth, but I think that would take a whole blog post all on its own. And this blog is about how Eden arrived.

At about 1:30am on Tuesday, April 24th, Sarah woke me up to let me know that she thought she *might* be in labor. After the weeks months on pins and needles waiting for Eli to arrive, I told myself I wasn't going to get excited for every single false labor pattern this time around. Unfortunately for me, Eden had other plans, and mama knew best (thank goodness). I must admit that I was a tad bit cranky as I started to get everything prepared and loaded into the car, after all we were still more than a week away and had just finished moving. Still Sarah insisted that we should at least be ready to go in case this was it. After a crazy hour of getting the car loaded up and timing irregular and non-painful contractions, Sarah informed me that she didn't want to rush out (just in case this wasn't really it), and suggested that we go back to sleep for a bit to see if anything changes.

About two hours later, Sarah woke me again to inform me that she was pretty sure this was it. I, however, still wasn't convinced, and was particularly dreading how the rest of that day would be at work. You see, although Sarah could tell based on the feel, I questioned the lack of consistency and intensity; she actually seemed more calm and at-ease than normal. We spent the next half hour deciding what we should do...going to the hospital meant waking up Eli and my parents, and of course ensured that I would have no additional sleep before work that day (a price I wasn't easily convinced to pay). On the other hand, after Eli's speedy delivery, we wanted to make sure that we arrived at the hospital with plenty of time. In the end, Sarah's instinct beat out my hesitation, so off we went.

When we arrived at my parents' house at 5:00am, they were wide awake and eager to rush us off to the hospital, however I think they were also a little bit shocked to see Sarah leisurely walk in and go on explain the necessities for the care and feeding of Eli (almost as if we were just dropping him off while we went on a date). I think that it was safe to say that my parents shared my doubts of it being the real thing at this point, and were probably also wondering if they were up early unnecessarily for a false alarm. Once Eli was settled, we were off again.

At around 5:40am we arrived at Swedish Medical Center in Issaquah. This time around we had called ahead, and had stressed to the staff that Sarah has a history of precipitous labor, so they were expecting us at the Emergency Room. The ER staff was also a bit surprised to have a lovely little chat with a very calm mom to be. I got the impression that they thought she was just another overexcited mom with a long labor in store, but despite their doubts we were brought to the triage room much, much faster than we had been with Eli (when Sarah was actually nearing the end of transition in the ER waiting room).

After arriving at triage (close to 6am), the L&D nurse was sure to call our midwife and let her know that Sarah had been admitted before starting the routine monitoring on Sarah. Once again, she was very interested to hear about Sarah's quick delivery with Eli, but probably expected something a little less exciting this time from the calm mom-to-be sitting in front of her. I think she was pretty surprised to discover that Sarah was already 5-6cm dilated. I, on the other hand was honestly quite relieved. First, this confirmed that Sarah was actually in labor, second that we had arrived with plenty of time for Sarah to labor at the hospital, and third that I wouldn't be taking Sarah home and then leaving straight for work. I gritted my teeth and set myself to the task of proving that I could support Sarah through a long and arduous labor process (and thought maybe I should get the doula on the phone). Sarah was giddy with excitement that she was finally going to have an opportunity to use all the labor techniques she had learned, including having a relaxing soak in the giant tubs they have at Swedish. However, Sarah and I hardly had a chance to finish our thoughts after the cervical exam when suddenly Sarah informed the nurse that her water had broken, and things started to get REALLY exciting.

Initially things were a little bit scary. Immediately after Sarah's water broke, Eden's heart rate began to decelerate, and Sarah's contractions became much more intense. In the next few minutes, Sarah showed incredible strength and dedication. At this point she was clearly going through transition, but despite the discomfort and anxiety, she was working with the nurse to adjust her body position to provide as much relief to Eden as possible. Still, Sarah continued to reassure me that she was feeling fine herself, and her only concerns were for little Eden. After a few tense minutes, Eden stabilized, and Sarah was left to continue labor in a very uncomfortable position while the nurse went to do everything in her power to get the midwife there as soon as humanly possible.

As we moved to the delivery room, Sarah was once again calm and comfortable. At about 6:15am, only 15 minutes after Sarah's first cervical check, the nurse decided to check her progress again. Her checks were followed by a strange smile at Sarah and an expression that said, "You can't be serious." "What...?" Sarah asked, "Am I ten?" The disbelief on the nurse's face answered that question (affirmatively).  Now the nurse had a new preoccupation: asking Sarah if she had the urge to push and frantically try to find the midwife. Luckily for the nurse, Sarah was extremely calm - to the extent that you couldn't tell she was in labor at all. In fact, she was so calm and happy that she decided to call her mother and inform her that she was currently 10cm dilated and ready to have a baby. After a brief conversation with a very excited, flabbergasted, and confused grandmother-to-be, Sarah got back to the business of having a baby. On the next contraction, Sarah informed the nurse that she was feeling the urge to push, and in response the nurse encouraged her to try to breath and not push (mainly because she was not thrilled at the prospect of delivering the baby herself). The bad news for the nurse was that Eden was now running the show, and Sarah didn't have much of a say in whether or not she would be pushing (any moms who have been in this situation are probably having a good chuckle right now). But the good news was that Sarah's midwife arrived shortly thereafter. I should mention that between pushes, much to the surprise and awe of the nurses in the room, Sarah was having a wonderful conversation with them and laughing about the whole experience. Among these conversations was the fact that she even wore a cute bathing suit top for laboring in the tub (so much for that!), and asking the midwife if she would allow me to catch Eden. After only a couple pushes, the midwife informed me that it was now or never. On the next push I had a beautiful screaming baby in my hands. Much to the disbelief of everyone in the room (myself and Sarah included), Eden Elizabeth Bollinger was born 7lbs 7oz and 20.5in long at 6:33am on Tuesday, April 24th  (If you want to get the magnitude of this whole thing, go back and note the times) I think the nurses will be talking about this one for years to come.

God had once again provided in an unbelievable way. Despite our doubts and hesitations, we had arrived in the hospital just in time. And even though most of the staff most likely initially doubted the urgency of Sarah's labor, they took us seriously and saw us as quickly as possible. Even the midwife arrived just in time for little Eden's arrival. And we have been given this amazing gift of a beautiful, healthy daughter, who we were able to take home to a comfortable and functional house - all in perfect timing. Jehovah Jireh, God our PROVIDER! What a blessing this whole experience has been.

Beautiful baby girl

A few minutes old and eating well!

My beautiful wife and daughter