We were so blessed to have had an amazing home birth. Early mild contractions started Wednesday evening and came every hour almost like clockwork until Thursday evening around 10pm. Then things quickly progressed and active labor kicked in technically at 1 am when my water broke. My hubby was so amazing. He put pressure on my hips with every contraction..and I'm really convinced this eased my pain enough that I didn't feel like I was going crazy. We were unusually focused and calm the whole night. 

At around 1:45 am we were still by ourselves and my midwife was on her way, but still about an hour away. I remember telling my husband he might wanna go get the Birth kit ready in case we had to deliver the baby ourselves. We just had no idea what to expect. 

2:15 am comes and we had to call a l&d nurse friend to come because it was definitely getting close. She (Jenn) arrived at 2:30..she checked me and said I was complete and could push at any time. I remember thinking: I don't want to...I want to wait til the midwife gets here. Another assistant (Jackie) arrived at 2:35. I remember her saying "I think you're going to make it til Sandy gets here". 

Now, at this point my contractions didn't hurt anymore..I know that may sound weird, but the baby was in the birth canal and every contraction at that point was just an involuntary push. I was laying on my left side in my bed to try to slow it all down...(like I really could) and the baby was crowning for a couple contractions. 1st about a quarter size, 2nd about 2 or 3 inches long and about an inch wide. Then his head went completely back in. When the next contraction came I couldn't keep him in and his whole head came out. None of us could believe how fast it happened. 

Jenn said "the cord's wrapped around his neck" and Jackie said, "can you get it off?". Jenn - "No, it's too tight". 

That's all I needed to hear - I pushed my one and only intentional push and he came right out. 

They quickly wiped him off a little and put him on my chest. And in walked my midwife. Haha!

It was the coolest craziest thing ever. Now, I realize the situation could have been extremely scary and dangerous without the midwife there sooner, but we were extremely blessed with a smooth labor and delivery. God's hand was all over it. 

There is so much more I could say about my experience from pregnancy all the way through postpartum care, but I will just leave it with this: I loved the midwife experience and so enjoyed getting to know her and being in my own home for my appointments with her. Our little boy is almost 3 months old and is in perfect health. He's such a happy baby. We couldn't ask for more. 

Here's our Chipper Griffin born on 8/26/16 at 3 am. 6.5lbs and 19in long. 💗