It was about 9pm on Tuesday and I felt a contraction. I thought “whatever, here we go again”. I had been having contractions for a few hours each evening for the past 10 days at least, so contractions weren’t getting me too excited anymore. The contractions continued, and at about 10pm they got a little uncomfortable, so I told Nick this *might* be it (I am sure he was like, uuhhhuhh sure). We decided he should go to sleep, just in case. I folded some laundry, did the dishes, picked up the house. Coda was having a hard night, so I laid with him for awhile, he needed to poop, but wouldn’t so his tummy was not feeling the greatest. It was getting too uncomfortable to lay with him, the contractions were getting stronger, so I told him he needed to poop. He pooped, I changed him and got him back into bed. By this time it was a little after midnight, I needed to wake Nick up, this had to be it, right?! I could still walk around during the contractions, but I could barely talk, so we decided we needed to go. I called my midwife and told her and then she reassured me that I would be leaving the hospital with a baby if I made the trip down this time. Thank God, I couldn’t imagine being in labor again and then the labor stopping and having to go home without a baby again. We called my mom, my sister and Nick’s parents…we would be there in about two hours and then head to the hospital.
At 12:55am we pulled out of our driveway, over the next 20 minutes the contractions got increasingly closer together and stronger. The contractions were about 2 and ½ minutes apart and about 1 and ½ minutes long…that didn’t leave much time in between! Twenty miles after leaving I knew we were not going to make it to Fortuna, but I was praying we would make it to at least Arcata or Eureka (both towns have hospitals). We stopped quick for gas and I stuck my hand down my pants, pulled it out and BLOOD, lots of BLOOD. Crap, I thought, I am heading towards 7cm…
With each contraction I rubbed the tops of my thighs, breathed in through my nose, out through my mouth, and prayed for it to be over. Nick had stick instructions to keep both hands on the wheel, look only at the road and drive as fast as he could without even slightly endangering us. Enya was playing, I was contracting, the kids were all wide-eyed…and we were driving.
I tried to change positions, but I didn’t have time in between contractions to figure anything out…I mean I was sitting in the front seat of a van for goodness sake, how many positions could I really get into?!
I had been praying and I asked Nick to be praying, but I needed something more. I asked Nick to pray aloud, he did. We prayed for safety, for a break in the contractions and to make it to the hospital. We were now about 55 miles from home. As the contractions came I knew the birth was imminent. I kept this information to myself; truthfully I didn’t know how to tell Nick, I think we are going to have this baby in the car. A few more contractions came, I was still keeping pretty calm during them, I tried to picture his face, holding him in my arms. Then a change happened, I felt emotional, overwhelmed, I felt like I just couldn’t take another contraction. I said out loud, “I can’t do this anymore.” CRAP, I knew once I said that that the baby was going to arrive within minutes, it was a comment I had made moments before the both of Coda and Téadora.
I told Nick we were not making it to Fortuna and to call his parents and have them meet us in Arcata at the hospital. I asked him how long until we would be there…he said 10 minutes. I told him I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. He sped up! A contraction came and I told him again we were not going to make it. The contraction ended and I thought, OK we can make it. The next contraction came and I felt “pushy”, I said “the baby is coming”. Nick said give me 5 minutes, he sped up even more. He told me to check and see if I felt the baby’s head, I felt down there and about 1 inch inside me I felt the intact bag of waters. “He’s right there”, I said. The contraction ended and I felt relief, we can make it, we can make it, we can make it….NOOOOOOOOO we can’t. A contraction began, my last actually, I realized I still had my pants on; I ripped them off and yelled “PULL OVER”. Nick went from 85mph to stopped on the side of the road in seconds. I was pushing, my body was pushing, I was holding onto the handle above the door, I looked down and saw the bag of waters outside of my body, but still intact. WOOOSH, the water exploded, exploded. Nick jumped out of his side, slammed his door, and opened mine. HIS HEAD, was there, I was grunting or was I screaming, I was pushing, his head was crowning, I felt his head, and Nick guided him out and onto my chest. I looked at my baby boy, he was breathing, he was pink, and he was beautiful. Nick began to dial his parents on the cell phone, “we had him, on the side of the road, and we will be to Mad River (the hospital in 5 minutes). At the same time, I said, “he’s fine; we’re fine, get in, turn on the heater.” I wrapped Dillon in a blanket that I had on my lap. I starred at him; Nick got in the car, turned the heater on full blast and sped off.
All was right in the world, I turned and looked at the three, “we are ok, mommy is ok, and baby Dillon is ok”. Coda who had started to cry when I was pushing Dillon out, was now smiling. We were all ok. The next 5 or so minutes to the hospital are a blur, did I really just have a baby on the side of the road, in the front seat of my car, and was it really that fast?! We were pulled over less than 4 minutes. We arrived to the hospital, pulled up near the ER, a man yelled to us, go further, turn left, they are waiting for you. We pulled up to the birth center, Nick’s parents were right behind us. There was a wheel chair waiting with a nurse. All I could think was, “I am going to get out of my car with nothing but a shirt on.” I did. My father in law wheeled me in, I got up onto the bed, it was bright. I could see Dillon, he was perfect, Nick leaned over and kissed me. And I answered the nurse, “yes, my name is Stephanie Lende, he was born at 2:18, well right there at the North Central Exit, his name is Dillon.”
We proceeded to cut the cord and deliver the placenta a little while later. After that my other three joined us. Everything with Dillon and me was great, I had no tearing, and he received a perfect bill of health. He was 7lbs, 8oz and 20inches, born at 2:18am on Valentines Day!
See my broken arm?! On Easter Coda broke his arm. He knew it, but we didn't :( All the kids went to the park with the adults (minus Nick and I), we stayed behind at Nick's parents to pack up our car. Coda was chasing Aidan and tripped, Auntie Jess got him up and appeared to be fine. Later that night he complained about his arm hurting, we figured he just slept on it wrong or something. But then the next morning he wasn't using his left arm and when I went to put on his shirt he cried, hysterically. Coda is not a crier, so I knew something was wrong, really wrong. Off to the ER we went. We waited and waited and waited, five hours of waiting. The outcome, a broken arm! Good thing I listened to my "mommy instinct"!
Then we went back to Eureka for Easter. We had a wonderful time. My mother-in-law cooked a great meal, like always and the kids ran around like crazy. 
