Reid Bradley's Birth Story by Dad
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The jokes started flying early Saturday morning when we realized that the playoff games for Boston and the Arkansas football games were going to overlap in time slots.  Since the football game only trumps the baseball game for me, and Alison and her Mom wanted to watch the playoffs it was decided that I would have to take the smaller upstairs television for my game time enjoyment.  That led to the jokes about how it would be the most ideal time for Alison to go into labor.  We spent the day shopping and getting ultrasounds and decided at around nine o’clock that evening that we would go have a date night at Barnes and Noble.  Here’s where this turns from too much information to a birth story.

Upon walking into the first set of doors, Alison stopped with her legs crossed and announced that her water had broken.  I thought she was being silly so I asked and she reassured me that it had indeed broken and she was sure because she heard it pop.  We walked back to the car where I luckily had a towel so she could sit on it in case there was more fluid on its way.  We called Cori to let her know what had taken place and that we were heading home after we stopped to get the coffee we had ventured out for.

When we got home, the contractions started to come, much like they had on many previous occasions.  We tried many things like sitting on the birthing ball and walking.  Cori showed up a little after midnight to see how Alison was doing and to start the welcoming committee for the new baby.  Alison and I walked around the neighborhood many times through the night until around 2AM when she was unable to continue.  We went inside and tried some other ways to make her comfortable. 

At around 3, we started a bath and Alison got in.  About this time, Amanda showed up and fell right into her role as Cori’s assistant.  She stayed in the bath, trying different positions and getting checked on until sometime when the sun was wanting to peek over the horizon.  We had the perfect plan of laying on the bed with support or even on hands and knees to give birth and have me catch the baby.  That was until we got to the edge of the bed and she couldn’t move much more because of the strength of the contractions. 

We pulled up a chair and decided we would squat the baby out because it should be the best way to help relieve the stress and try to make it less painful.  I sat in the chair and held Alison from under her arms while she squatted.  Cori put a mirror underneath so she could see better, but I’ll still claim she did it so we could see because it sounds better.  One quick push and the rest of the fluid came out, blocking any of us from seeing anything in the mirror.  What seemed like two small pushes later, there was fluid coming out all over the place and a little baby boy’s body flapping into Cori’s hands. 

She handed the baby to Alison and we laid back and welcomed baby Reid Bradley Power to the world at 8:29AM on Sunday morning of October 14, 2007.  We stayed there and admired our son for what felt like fifteen minutes but was actually about an hour. 

Having this birth at home was one of the single best ideas we ever have agreed to and I don’t think that either of us could have imagined how wonderful of an experience it was.  Looking back on the whole day and night, it’s easy to forget how long of a process it was.  You write it on paper and it feels like you’re exaggerating the times to make it more dramatic because it only felt like a little while.  Most of that was due to how comfortable we are in our own home which was only possible because of how excellent our midwives were and how they were one hundred percent there for everything that Alison needed but zero percent intrusive or in the way.  That is something that I will be incapable of ever forgetting.

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