Augustine Crist Templeton | Birth Story | July 10, 2022
July 9, 2022: Matt and I went to sleep at 10:30 PM. One hour later, my water broke. At 12:15 AM I started having contractions. The contractions were way more intense than what I experienced with Lyla. We got to the hospital around 5:15/5:30 in the morning. On the way I told Matt, “If they tell me I’m at 4 centimeters, I’m going to be so disappointed.” We checked into the hospital and a resident OB came; I was 5 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. I thought, “We’re going to be here forever before this baby comes and with the one hour of solid sleep I had, I’m going to be exhausted. I need some sleep.” I told Matt and the hospital staff that I was going to get some sleep and to please not disturb me. I went in and out of sleep, waking at every contraction to breathe and watch the second hand tick on the clock. The contractions stayed consistent in pain and duration.
A new nurse came in around 7 AM. She walked into the room and announced herself, “Hi! I’m Hope. I will be your nurse now.” I opened my eyes, looked at her, smiled and said, “Hey Hope! I already like you. I’m super tired. I had an hour of sleep before these contractions started so I’m going to rest a bit longer before I get up and start walking.” Hope has been a Labor & Delivery Nurse for 24 years. She was amazing! Matt pleaded with me a few times to get up and walk around but I told him I just needed to rest a bit longer. Around 7:30 AM, with both Matt and Nurse Hope in the room, I announced that I needed to go to the bathroom. Hope came to the bedside to help me up. She and Matt helped me to the bathroom through many contractions. As soon as I stepped into the bathroom, I announced that I felt like it was actually time to push. Nurse Hope very firmly told me to get back to bed; I was not having a baby in the bathroom!
I crawled into the bed, held onto the side rails; Hope called the nurses station with a great sense of urgency in her voice: “Send in an OB and utensils, we have a baby coming.” I told her I needed to push and asked if she was ready. She said, “Honey, you push when you want to, don’t wait for us.”
“Okay, here I go!” I said. And with one push his head was out. The room filled quickly with nurses and a second year resident. Hope sat right next to me, telling me to breathe and focus. They told me to push to get his shoulders out. I countered with, “But I’m not having a contraction yet.” Apparently Auggie’s shoulders were very broad. Most babies come out with one shoulder higher than the other, but “his came out like a linebackers.” With a second push his shoulders were out. And with a third push, the rest! With a total of three contractions in six minutes, Augustine Crist Templeton was born at 7:41 AM on July 10, 2022.
As I was sitting with Auggie a few days ago I told Matt, “Though he’s only 5 months old, I feel like I’ve always known him. It’s odd to say but I cannot remember what life was like before he came.” If you know Auggie, you take note of his very joyful and content attitude. With two very busy daughters, we are so abundantly blessed by Auggie’s calm disposition. He sits back, watches and giggles at the girls all day. He is such a joy!