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Written by Michael Torreyson, the Dad.

    Pregnancy number two; place your bets.  While the due date was set at August 25, 2006, everyone was predicting an early delivery. Many of us were thinking July would be the month.  While in Chicago for a business trip in late July, I called Melissa eight times a day to check in on her. Still, July came and went, and no baby. The days passed, no baby. We kept changing our bets, July 20^th became August 15^th, then August 31^st.  When September came, and Melissa was looking like a tick ready to pop, we were assuming she would be pregnant forever.  We figured there were better chances of finding Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart and the city of Atlantis then Melissa having the baby.  We started answering the phone: “No Baby.” When will the day come?

     In late August when desperation set in, we began to try all of the old timer home remedies to spark labor, eating spaghetti and mexican, walking (we walked 30 miles in August), we were even consider jumping on a trampoline (I suggested, but Melissa did not want to try). On September 6, we went to the midwife, and she stripped her membranes, and told us that she had never had a woman go longer than 6 hours before going into labor. While this should have been good news, we were not optimistic, and had assumed that at some point in the future, we would be on the news with a 25 pound baby after 3 years of pregnancy.

  Send out the search party, don’t come back till you find Amelia or our baby!

Castor Oil

     When we got home from the midwife, Melissa was instructed to take castor oil, the last home remedy beyond performing a c-section with a pizza cutter.  Castor oil is something that many women complain of the horrific experience they have with it.  Still, you must remember that I am married to superwoman.  Melissa downed it, and did not even flinch. I couldn’t believe how tough this woman is. 

How would this help start labor?(No…Melissa did not take this)

It’s Starting

    Our midwife/physic was correct; Melissa started having contractions with six hours of having her membranes stripped.  However, since they were still minor, I decided it would be safe to go to bed, which I did, hoping to be awoken with the news that it is time to go to the birth center.  My wake up call came at four o’clock.  Melissa informed me that her contractions were at the point to go to the birth center.  I got out of bed, and saw the two signs that reminded me that it was time for the baby: the towel rack ripped from the wall during a contraction, and a score sheet that Melissa was keeping track of her contractions.  I really loved this sheet, as it was another reminder of how tough she is.  She would have a contraction, and in the middle of the contraction, she would write down the time and duration.

It never had a chance.

Road Trip

      About 6:30, we left Shayna at the house with her grandmother, Janet, and were on the road to the birth center.   While I was focused on the fog, road construction and looking out for deer, Melissa decided it was a good time to get car sick.  As I could not pull over to the shoulder due to the construction, I had to give Melissa a cup to get sick in.  This was a sign of good luck for me, as Melissa got sick on the plane before our wedding.  At the time I thought it was due to fear or realization that she was about to marry a Torreyson, now I see it as a good luck charm.

I knew we did not pack everything we needed.

Birth Center

     "If you don’t have anything nice to say." Well the midwife never heard the second part of that saying, and she gave us some bad news: Melissa is running a temperature, and is dehydrated.  On top of that when the midwife breaks her water, it looks like the swamp thing.  Because she is two weeks overdue, the baby had released meconium in the amniotic fluid, so they recommend that she delivers at the hospital because they will need to immediately suction her so she does not breathe any of that in.  No peaceful birth center for us, no wonderful hot tub to labor in, and even worse, we have a 20 mile drive to the hospital in rush hour with Melissa in full labor.  I made the 20 mile trip in about 5.5 minutes, and it would have been faster, if I did not get behind the midwife during the trip.  I did teach her what Maryland road rage looked like.

GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!

Hospital

     When we arrived at the hospital, they made me wait in the waiting room for 30 minutes so they could ask Melissa questions.  One was whether I was an abusive spouse.  Perhaps they were informed that I was a manic driver, and they assumed I was a bad guy.  After sitting in the waiting room for 30 minutes (as if it was the 1950s), I was allowed to go back and see Melissa.  She looked terrible. The first thing she said was that she could not do it.  She looked to be in terrible pain, and she kept shaking her head and telling me that it hurt, and she could not do it.  This was very different than our first birth experience.  I kept telling her she was OK, and to hang in there.  She finally started crying, and was begging for me to help her (she wanted some drugs).  I told her flat out NO WAY, and to think of what the drugs would do to the baby.  That upset her, and she did not talk to me for a while.  I felt terrible, but I knew that she really did not want drugs.  Luckily, she stopped asking for the drugs. As labor progressed, and the contractions got more intense, Melissa continued to press through by squeezing my hands. At one point I let out the loudest silent scream of pain, and she was crushing my fingers.

 You think I’m tough; I had to have an epidural.

Welcome to our Family

      When it came time to begin pushing, Melissa was visibly exhausted from the contractions, but the urge to push propelled her forward.  As the baby crowned, the monitors on Melissa’s stomach started beeping: the baby’s heart rate dropped from 120 to 80. The midwife pleaded with Melissa to push as hard as she could.  Melissa reminded me of Popeye eating the can of spinach, and she came up with a superhuman strength and pushed out the baby’s head.  I remember Shayna being blue when she came out, but this baby was purple.  I remember hearing the midwife saying that the cord was around the baby’s neck, and she quickly freed the baby, and when Melissa gave one last push and the baby squirted out, the midwife quickly cut the cord and rushed her over to the doctor to clean her up. During this time (it may have been 5 seconds) I was overcome with the most powerful feelings.  I was gripped with a chilling fear, but overwhelmed with joy to have another daughter.  The midwife told us that they did not stimulate her to cry so they could clean her up.  When she cried, I cried.  I cried that Rose and Melissa were healthy, and that it was over with.  At 11:03 am on September 7, 2006 the wait was finally over, and we had a baby.

  If it were only that easy.

Introducing Rose Fox Torreyson

       What are the statistics, Melissa asked.  We were not told, and the nurses told us that they would weigh and measure her at the nursery.  Melissa looked like she went 5 rounds with the champ, but you could see the weight had been lifted off of her. She looked so beautiful, and I was so proud of her.  She is my hero.

     When the nurse came back, she told us the shocking news.  Rose weighted 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 22.5 inches long.  No wonder this labor hurt, you had a gigantic baby in there. 

      Rose is another beautiful and wonderful child.  She is eating and sleeping great.  We are so thankful for our second blessing, and we are so excited to share all of the wonderful life experiences with her.