On Friday morning, about a week after my due date, I started having contractions that seemed different than the Braxton Hicks I had been having for a few months. They weren’t very strong or regular, but I was also having a bit of bloody show, so I knew that it would be soon. I figured I better clean so that the house would be nice and clean for my homebirth! I cleaned off and on all day, contractions continued off and on all day. When Andy got home, I told him what had been happening, and he said, “oh, so that’s why you’ve been cleaning!” Yep, he knows me well! He asked if I wanted to go ahead and call my mom and dad to come and get the kids, and I told him no because I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. He took the kids and ran to the store for some last minute supplies. He came back with Gatorade, candles and books for me to read while in labor. Contractions were still very mild and not regular.

At about 10:30, I tried to go to bed and realized very quickly that it was going to be a sleepless night for me. My contractions were getting quite a bit stronger and I could NOT lay down during them! So, I got up, got out my birth ball and sat on it to read a book. I was very excited that I was going to be meeting my baby soon and started wondering when I should call Lindy (my midwife) and my mom and dad. All along, I had been planning on not calling Lindy until I really needed her, so I decided to wait. Zander woke up and was crying and wanted me to lay down with him. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done… dealing with contractions that were coming strong and frequent and trying to lay down with him to get him back to sleep! I would keep my head on the pillow and get up on my knees and he would say, “down, mama, spot!” It took everything I had to convince him that I was still laying down in my spot!

Finally, he fell back asleep and I got back on my ball. Andy woke up around this time and sat with me for awhile. Then he decided to get out the pool and start filling it. That took hours, filling the pool, letting the hot water heater replenish, filling the pool again, etc…. I sat on my ball the whole time, and Andy fell asleep on the floor for a couple of hours. I kept thinking to myself that it would be so nice if I could wait until morning to make my phone calls so that I wouldn’t have to wake anyone up, but at the same time, I wanted labor to hurry up and be over!

My back was hurting during contractions. I had known for a few weeks that Griffin wasn’t in the best position for labor and looking back on it, now I know that he still hadn’t rotated at that point. The only thing that gave me relief was pushing on my back and curving it (pushing my stomach out in front of me) during contractions. Not long after that I started standing and swaying during contractions, doing hip circles, and still pushing hard on my back. I was using contractionmaster.com to keep track of my contractions. They would be 2 minutes apart and then 7 minutes apart, really strong and then not so strong. I kept wondering why my water hadn’t broken yet, since it did before labor with all 4 of my previous babies! I expected it to happen anytime and I knew that then my labor would really speed up.

All of this continued as I watched the sun rise, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, I was getting tired from being up all night. Finally, I decided to lay down on the couch in hopes that my body would give me a little break so that I could sleep for a few minutes. 10 minutes later, I was almost asleep and felt a “pop!” I sat up and said to Andy, “there it is, my water just broke.” He had been trying to sleep on the floor again. It was 7:00. Around 7:30, the kids started to wake up, so we called my mom and dad to pick them up. I think they arrived around 8:30, but time was becoming a blur with labor in full swing at that point. Andy called Lindy and she was soon on her way. She arrived at about 9:15. She started setting up. I was walking around and swaying during contractions. I would close my eyes and imagine seeing and holding my baby for the first time. I would think of his tiny toes and all his newborn sweetness and it would make me smile. In the few seconds between contractions, I would talk to Andy & Lindy. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I do remember telling Andy to get the Snotsucker out to show her and I remember both of us talking about how weird (but very useful!) it is and she said that they use something very similar for babies that have meconium aspiration. Looking back on it, I have no idea why I was thinking about the Snotsucker when I was in labor! Andy told Lindy that he knew it would be soon because when I was acting like that last time I was very close. Lindy checked me and she said that I was 6 cm, stretched to about 7 during a contraction. I was not happy to hear “6” and “7” wasn’t much better!

I decided to get in the pool, so I went to the bathroom and then got in the pool. At this point, I was in my own little world. I could hear Andy & Lindy talking, but I really didn’t know what their conversations were about. I didn’t want to sit down. I think Lindy asked me if I was having a hard time getting comfortable and I said no, I just didn’t want to sit down. I was fine on my knees. I started to feel a bit of bearing down during contractions and right at that point, Andy said to me, “are you starting to feel like pushing?” and I said, “yes, there’s definitely some bearing down happening” and Lindy said, “just listen to what your body is telling you to do.” I got up in a squat position and reached up to feel the head. I wasn’t sure if I still felt a little rim of cervix, but I decided to give a little push anyway.

Well, one little push was all it took and then my body took over and the head was out. Very very calmly and quietly, I said, “there’s the head,” but I guess they didn’t hear me because Andy started almost yelling, “the head is out, the head is out!” like it was a big discovery or something! Lindy had been trying to get her gloves on and they were getting stuck and she was having trouble. Well, when Andy said, “the head is out, the head is out!” she whipped her gloves off and reached into the water to support the head while the rest of his little body slipped into the world. Then she said, “grab your baby!” I reached down and picked him up and sat back in the pool admiring him.

He was a perfect little peanut. When the cord stopped pulsing, Andy cut it and Griffin and I got out of the pool. He was 7 lbs, 14 oz, 20 inches long with lots of dark hair and beautiful dark blue eyes. He was born at 9:48, only half an hour after Lindy had arrived at the house! It was an amazing and beautiful birth experience, everything I had hoped for, and I hope I get to do it again someday! Lindy was so impressed, she told me I should be a childbirth educator! I can’t imagine what I would say to expectant moms, my only advice is to trust your body, trust your baby, be in charge of your own birth, and SURRENDER to those strong waves of energy that will bring your baby into the world.