Thomas Patrick Onofrio was born on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 1:18 p.m. Although he arrived a week before his due date, I have to admit that I was not too shocked by his arrival that day. For at least a month before he was born, I just had a sense that he was going to arrive early, and after working 3 out of 4 nights in a row the weekend before his birth I started having some intermittent contractions and other physiologic signs that labor would probably be starting soon. At the time I didn't mention this to Benjamin or anyone because he was getting ready to take the Utah State Bar exam on the 26th and 27th and for weeks had been telling me that I should be giving the little guy pep talks that he needed to stay put until after the test was over. I knew that telling Benjamin that I felt like the baby was coming early would only stress him out, so I just was praying that at least labor wouldn't start until after he was in his exam and he could ignorantly test without worrying how we were doing. (For months we had discussed the possibility that Thomas could be born the day of the Bar exam, and we both were in strong mutual agreement that if that were that the case, Benjamin should go take his test anyway since he had put months of preparation into studying and the next opportunity to test would not be for five months which would cause a significant financial and emotional burden to our family to wait for).
Anyway, apparently the Lord had another plan for our family because my water broke around 4 am early in the morning before the test. Neither one of us had slept much the before (Benjamin's due to test anxiety and mine due to pregnancy and Benjamin's tossing and turning), and once my water broke that was it--we didn't sleep any more. Luckily my mom had arrived late the previous night (actually only about 3 hours before my water broke) to stay with us so that I wouldn't be alone "in the off chance that something happens." And thank goodness she did, because things were definitely happening! At 5:30 I called Aunt Sandae, my amazing CNM who is also Benjamin's aunt to give her a heads up that we would be heading to the hospital later that morning, and also called my dear friend Rachel Green who had already offered to watch Miles for us when we went to the hospital. When 7:30 rolled around, Rachel came by and picked up Miles and my mom drove Benjamin down town to to the exam while I packed my bag for the hospital. When she got back to the house I was ready to go and we arrived at LDS hospital at about 8:30 a.m.
Once at the hospital, Sandae checked me and it turned out I was dilated to 4 cm so I decided I wanted to keep laboring without an epidural for a while longer. Cami showed up a little while after we arrived, and she, Mother, and my amazing nurse, Polly, and Sandae, were very supportive and encouraging and made me feel good about how things were progressing and helped me through contractions. From here on out, I don't remember the details of how labor progressed, and no one probably will ever care but me. I do know that Tommy was posterior for the majority of the labor, and I got a total of 3 doses of fentanyl (a fast-acting pain medication) which helped take the edge off of the pain, and then before I knew it, it was time to push and I had passed up the opportunity for an epidural. Up until the just prior to pushing I actually felt like for having a "natural" birth I was feeling really good and in control of my pain (in spite of Benjamin's mockery of the Lamaze class we attended prior to Miles's birth, I found that the breathing techniques were really effective). However, I will be the first to admit that when the time came to push I basically acted like a crazy person. It was really odd, actually--I've never felt before like I had no control over myself but I felt like at that point I definitely lost it. I have lived a relatively pain-free life, and to be in so much pain made me really afraid to the point that I wasn't thinking clearly and stopped my controlled breathing and even forgot that I was going to get a beautiful baby at the end. Fortunately, though, I didn't have to push too long (maybe 15 minutes? I certainly lost all concept of time at that point) and suddenly Tommy was there. He was long and skinny and absolutely perfect and it was such a stressful time leading up to his birth (and I don't just mean labor) that I couldn't believe that he was here. But there he was and he was mine and I loved him so much and I was so glad that the Lord hadn't made me wait another minute to hold him even if it meant his arrival came at the most stressful time imaginable.
And so that is Tommy's birth story. Benjamin met him that night after finishing day one of his exam and we had a tearful little reunion just the three of us and exchanged details from the day. Benjamin has his own story from the day that is very special that he will share with Tommy one day. I will just say that we both felt the impact of the prayers of many on our behalf because things could not have gone any better considering the circumstances. Miles also met Tommy that night, and their sweet bond is a whole different post for another day. I will just say Tommy perfectly belongs in our family. Welcome to the world, babe! We've been waiting for you!
He was born on Bushman's birthday! I kept telling him I was pretty sure they shared the same bday, but he didn't believe me. Glad everything went well. He's so cute!
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