Orin Alexander was born on his due date 01/26/2019!

Orin Alexander came with the snow on his due date here in Canada on Saturday January 26, 2019. I planned for a home birth same as my first with midwives.

I’d been feeling “ready” for a few days and having some contractions in the middle of the night here and there but nothing serious so I told my husband it was time to try having sex to see if we could get labour going. We put my older son down for a nap and within a half hour of doing the baby dance my contractions started up every 2 minutes and 30 seconds long. We did the bath test, where you take a warm bath to see if contractions slow down. They did not and we paged the midwife and sent my son off to Nana’s house for the rest of the weekend. This was about 3pm.

My husband and I got the basement ready and watched a movie. My contractions never really spaced out more than 2-3 minutes apart or ramped up too much. I used a TENS machine for pain relief and hung out changing positions every so often with a birthing ball. By 6:45 pm my husband was starving so he went out to get shawarma and extra takeout for the next couple days. I decided to try and get things going by walking laps around the house and doing a few sets of lunges up the stairs( also known as the miles circuit). I laid down in bed in the left leg wide raised position and in 4 contractions my water broke with a loud pop. I texted the midwife and my husband as I waddled to the bathtub to check the colour of my waters. Husband comes in the door with food and hears me on the phone with the midwife telling her it’s time at 7pm.

I grab towels and get to the basement between close together but much stronger contractions. Husband starts filling up the kiddie pool/birth pool while I labour over the side of the couch over some plastic drop sheets. I get waves of hot flashes and nausea with the intensity of the contractions and in no time I’m getting the urge to push. We call the midwife again and she’s 5 minutes away. I pull off the TENS machine and get in the pool even though it’s not even close to full.

Midwife arrives at 7:32 pm and Orin was born with 15 minutes of pushing on my hands and knees at 7:47 pm. He came in at 8lbs 8 oz with no tearing or stitches. Prenatal yoga, hypnobirthing breathing techniques, and Kegels are totally worth it! Didn’t have a water birth as planned but everyone is happy, tired, and healthy.