Contractions started Saturday afternoon, the 8th of July 2006 for me. It was kind of funny because Guy and Laurie left, and not very long after that, I had a contraction.. of course at first I didn’t think it was anything different than the “braxton hicks” contractions, so I just kept going on, not thinking of anything. Well then the World Cup game came on, and I had a few more contractions, and it was really making me wonder.. could this baby be coming?!! Contractions were coming at about 1 every hour, but I still figured that I was just in early labor.. and that this kid was gonna arrive within the next few days of that..

Contractions started picking up, first to 2 an hour, then to like 4 an hour. I called the midwife on Saturday around 8 pm to let her know what was going on, and she told me to call if my water broke, or if contractions started getting a lot closer together. Saturday nite was pretty much about 4 contractions per hour. Sometimes more, but on average I would say 4 an hour. Around 9:30pm I noticed my mucus plug had came out, and so I knew that was a for sure sign that this was really the real thing! The baby was really coming!!

Saturday nite was not very fun to sleep. Juan came home late, as he always does on Saturday nites and we went to bed. Well, I tried all that I could, but these contractions were not letting me sleep! I would nod off for a few minutes, just to be woken up to the next contraction. They were not super bad, just annoying that I would wake up during them. I was really hoping that I would be able to just sleep thru them. Oh well. It was weird because even though I didn’t really feel like I got sleep saturday nite, I know that I did because I remember that I had a few dreams, even in the short amount of time that I was sleeping at that given point (example– since I was writing down the contractions and their times, I knew that the last contraction had been at say 2:12 am, and then during that short time of sleeping, I would remember a dream, and the next contraction would be at like 2:21 am or something like that) anywayz, so then Sunday came, and I called the midwife in the morning to let her know about the mucus plug, and how the contractions were the nite before. We had already had planned that she was gonna come over that day for just a visit anywayz, but now when I was in labor, obviously it was not gonna be just a visit this time! So, knowing that the baby was coming very soon, Juan & I (more him though) started getting things ready for the birth. We wanted to make sure that we had everything available and not hiding in the closet somewhere. He got the kiddie pool and filled it with air, not water yet because I wasn’t really progressing that much so it was no use to have the water yet. It all felt so surreal to me. I couldn’t believe that it was actually happening! I was finally in labor! I was so excited! I didn’t really know what exactly to be expecting, but I knew I was sure excited!

I made sure to call my friends that were going to be present for the birth so that they knew that it would be sometime probably later that day that they should come over. At that point, I didn’t know how far along I was, so I just really told them to be ready. Nia went to get some food for us at Trader Joes as our fridge was pretty much empty (we were planning on going to get food that day anywayz!!) but it was nice of her to go get the food because I dont’ think having a contraction in the store would have been a good place!!

The midwife came over after the world cup game for our “visit” to see how far along I was, and how I was doing. At that point I was 3 cm dialated and 80% effaced. She said that I was doing great, and that really there was nothing she would be doing if she stayed (although she said she would have if I would have wanted her to) I told her that I was fine at that point, and that I would call her if anything changed.. Luckily, she decided to stay in Chicago and not go all the way home (she lives like an hour away) I checked in with her at 6 pm, and again at 8. When we talked at 8, contractions had been getting stronger and closer together, so when she asked if I was ready for someone to come be here with us, I said for sure.. so at that point, Juan started to fill up the pool with our EXTREMLY hot water (most people worry about running out of hot water.. we only worried about melting the kiddie pool) anywayz, so he started filling that up as I just was going thru the contractions. The midwife had let me borrow a nice birth ball to help for the contractions, and it was wonderful!

Around like 9 or so, The midwife J and the apprentice midwife came over It was so comforting to see them! They were just so calm, and everything was so natural and normal.. I really felt at ease with them there. A little while later the other midwife arrived. (ok, I really felt like a queen to have 3 amazing midwifes at the birth. I had crappie prenatal care thru my other midwife, but switching to these 2 amazing woman was the best thing that I did and it was amazing having them all 3 there!) Anywayz, the funniest thing was when C touched the water in the pool and was like OH MY GOSH! because it was so hot. The whole time, Juan had been telling me how he should put some cold water in it also.. but I insisted on him just putting hot…

Shortly after the midwifes came, they told me just to get in the water. I figured I should maybe wait to get in, but then I was just like.. what the heck! It’ll be a lot nicer. So, I got in, and it was sooo amazing. Wow the water helped with the contractions so much. It was wonderful. It was just so comforting to me!

The midwifes made sure that I was eating a bit and drinking, more than anything drinking to keep hydrated. That was really important because sometimes I would feel that I should drink, but until they said to me to drink, would I drink. So that was nice.

Leana was the first friend to show up. She brought a fan and a flashlight since at one one point I didn’t know what happened to our flashlight. It was really nice, the room that the birth took place in, because it was very cool. It was a pretty cool nite, and having the fans on really helped a lot. After a little bit, Nia showed up also. Chelsea showed up a lot later, but at that point I dont’ even know what time it was, or anything. Time was the last thing on my mind!

Contractions were fairly hard at this point, and I just felt like.. is this baby ever gonna really come!! I was feeling kind of discouraged because I felt like I hadn’t even made any progress at all! When C asked me if I wanted her to check how far along I was, I gladly agreed just because I wanted to know if I was even progressing! At that point I was 6 cm. dialed and my water still hadn’t broke. I couldn’t believe it, but they told me that i would know when the water broke. Its so weird because so many times you see on tv that the “start ” of someone’s labor is when their water breaks. This is sooo hardly true in real life!!!

So, contraction after contraction, my friends and Juan helped get me thru them. They all put a LOT of pressure on my back to help ease the pain. It felt amazing when they pushed! WOW! Juan was funny too, he did get in the pool with me, but he wouldn’t take off his shirt or his hat! I was like.. can’t you just take them off! It was like he was nervous to be half naked in front of all those woman! HA! It was funny, and here I was completly naked! haha.

One point when I really remember was I had a strong contraction and instead of being in the same position as I had been in most of the time, I just went to Juan and just hugged him, and then I started crying. It was like.. they were tears of pain, but also tears of joy! I was just so excited that the baby was coming.

I don’t know what time it was or anything, but I think it was C asked me if I felt that I needed to push yet. I tried pushing and it felt kinda alright, but at that point the water STILL had not broken! I couldn’t believe it! They told me that is shouldn’t be many more contractions and that should break. It was like.. we were all just waiting on that water! Finally, I heard/felt this thing kind of pop. I was like.. I think the water might have broke! They were checking things, and Juan was like “yeah it did” but i was like.. how the heck does he know! But when C did the check, she confirmed that yeah, it had broke! I was so happy because I felt that to reach that point, it took sooo long!!! Well, that was a big hurdle that I had finally crossed, that meant the baby was coming soon!

After the water broke, things went quite a lot faster. It was just contraction after contraction after contraction.. C then asked me if it felt right to push, at that point it definatly did. At first though, I started pushing and definatly pooped! I felt so embarrassed but was thinking about some of the books that I had read that said that is completly normal. I still felt so embarrassed! But anywayz, the midwifes were happy that I had pooped and they were like.. that means the baby is coming soon! they were really encouraging me and everything.

I started pushing then and after I dont’ know how many pushes, I started to feel the head. It was so cool because I kept my hands down there and really was kinda guiding it. It was soo cool to feel the head as it was crowning! I still kept thinking like.. is this really the head, what is this!! because it felt so weird at first! It was really nice for me though to be able to feel the head as I was pushing it out. I kept getting so discouraged though as it would go back in there instead of staying out like I wanted it to. It was so weird too these urges that I got to push! I didn’t really think it would be like that! that is how mom had described them, but I was like.. how will it be such an urge to push! I didn’t think it would be true. Boy, it sure was!

Most of the time during the contractions and pushing, I was in the same position. I don’t know WHY, but I just was. Finally during the pushing, one of the midwifes was like, why don’t you try leaning back on Juan. At this point, the head was almost crowned, so I think that leaning back really helped. A few more pushes after that, there was a definate head that was out for good! My friends were all just like OH MY GOSH! they were so happy and so amazed! Leana was taking picture after picture! I was soo glad for that because I really wanted pictures!!

After the head was out, C had to rotate the baby as she didn’t quite rotate herself, and then it was like one more push, and woooshhh, out came the baby! It was so neat because I was the one who caught her. The midwifes asked me if I wanted to catch her, or if Juan was going to. I really wanted to catch her, so I am glad that I did. juan was in back of me holding me up and helping from behind. So, I caught the baby, and brought her up to the air. Right away, the baby took the first breath, and was just looking around.. It was so cute! I was just amazed. THere was this beauty in front of me that I had birthed! It was a feeling so amazing. Also, even after the long labor, even after the hard contractions, seeing this little creature for the first time made me forget about the contractions.. I can’t remember how painful they were or anything.. I just know that it was all worth it!

So, I brought baby up to me as much as I could. The cord made it hard to pull out of the water more… so, everyone was like.. well is it a boy or girl.. I felt and I was pretty sure a girl, and so I was like.. a girl.. I think.. then Juan felt.. and he felt the CORD instead, and was like.. I think boy.. So we had to lift her out of the water, and sure enough, mama was right, a little baby girl! Wow, it was amazing, seeing this beautiful baby for the first time being brought up to the world in such a gentle wonderful way!

After that, the midwifes helped me out of the water (I thought I would never be able to lift my legs over the edge! I felt like JELLO!) and then I sat down on this thing (and boy it hurt to sit!!) so that I could birth the placenta. I just wanted to get it out of there and be done! I had NO energy left! It was funny because like 1 or 2 minutes after I got out of the pool to sit down, my phone rang. The midwifes were like.. who is calling you at this hour! i figured it was my sisters, or someone from my fam, and sure enough it was Amzi, so her and Andrea were the first to hear the news, they were so excited.. i was like.. um, its a girl.. i will call ya back later i am too worn out to talk. hehe.

So, the placenta came out after like 5-10 minutes. It was a weird feeling when it came out. It was like just a weird sensation! I don’t know how to describe it. At that point, the midwifes were showing me how to breastfeed but I didn’t have the energy to hold the baby up on my own at that point when I was sitting. We got it when we were laying in bed though.

After that, I was just in awe of everything. I didn’t know what to think! Time just went by so fast it seemed! THe midwifes made me so food which I gladly ate, and then after awhile me and the baby took an herb bath. I think that was at least an hour after she had been born, maybe longer. I don’t know. Everything blended together. It was at that point that the cord got cut. It was so cool to keep the placenta attached that way she would get all the good blood.

The herb bath felt amazing. Then what sucked is that I couldn’t pee. They were like, you need to pee. But I could not! So they told me that either they should catherate me, or they might have to do that the next day. I was pretty scared of that, but I told them to go ahead and do it. It was pretty gross, but I am glad that I had it done.

Juan had already passed out during all of this. I was like.. sheesh, I am the one who just had a baby, you should not be passed out.. but I just let him sleep. The midwifes did all their stuff and did their check on the baby and everything.. thats when I found out she was 8 pounds, 22 inches long. What a nice sized baby!

Ok, so I am thinkin’ thats about it for my birth story! It was an amazing time, I am so glad that we had a homebirth. It was 100% worth it.

Oh, another thing I should mention is that we had put my cat in the closet so that she would not interfere with everything… then after the midwifes left at maybe 5 or 6 in the morning, I knew I needed to go lock the door after them.. and thats when I let ceviche out of her closet.. I tried to wake Juan up to go lock the door and let the cat out, but I couldn’t get him up, so I just wobbled over there to do it myself. Ceviche got let out and was acting WEIRD.. she started making this weird meowing noise that I cannot even begin to describe how weird it is! She is still doing it a little now, but not as much as she did at first..

Anywayz, homebirth is definatly the way to go, and moreso, WATERBIRTH. I definatly recommend it, and if not actually pushing in the water, at least having the water there for contractions. It was an amazing experience and I am sooo thankful to have had the midwifes that I did, and the friends that I had there with us. Of course I am thankful for my husband, Juan also and his help thru-out the labor.