This is long, but I wanted to make sure I don't forget anything! Also, I'm preparing to put this in the baby book, so please let me know if anything doesn't make sense or if you find any errors. I'm very open to talking about home birth, so feel free to comment or message me with any questions! :)

On Friday, January 3rd, I began feeling mild contractions. I felt excited and apprehensive, and tried to simultaneously convince myself that it was nothing and also to prepare for labor. I went to sleep as usual, knowing that if it was the beginning of labor I would need my rest! I was able to sleep through the night, but then at 5am on the morning of Saturday, January 4th, I woke up to contractions strong enough that I had trouble falling back asleep, so I decided to get up and distract myself through them. We spent Saturday morning and afternoon at home, in contact with Mary the midwife and Molly the doula, timing the frequency and length of contractions occasionally. Throughout most of the day, the contractions were from 3-6 minutes apart and lasted about 45 seconds. We watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to continue our marathon, tried to clean up the house a bit, and went on a walk around the block. Justin inflated the birthing tub, and we were convinced that we would have a baby that day. But progress wasn’t being made as quickly as hoped, as contractions were increasing in intensity but not length, so we had Danielle the chiropractor, whom I had been seeing weekly for adjustments, come over for an adjustment and acupuncture. She determined that the baby was sitting a little crooked, and after the adjustment she gave me a few moves that I could be doing periodically to help encourage the baby into the optimal spot. I walked up and down the stairs sideways and did lunges on my right side. Intensity increased after that, and we asked Molly to come over around 7pm. We still optimistically believed that we would have a baby that night. Unfortunately, the experienced and insightful Molly came in with a dose of reality and said that rest needed to happen. When resting, my contractions slowed to about 8-10 minutes apart, which was discouraging, but in hindsight, the rest was much needed as labor would continue for more than 24 hours. By 2am on Sunday the 5th, the intensity of contractions had increased quite a bit, and I was exhausted and in serious need of reassurance that progress was indeed being made. I was vocalizing through every contraction by this point, and was definitely in the mindset that it was almost over - luckily, I had no idea that “almost over” actually meant 20 more hours. With Molly’s help, we determined that having Mary come over to check my dilation would be helpful to me mentally, so she came over at 3:30am on Sunday, January 5th and assessed my progress, determining that I was 5-6cm dilated and 70% effaced. This was relatively encouraging and assured me that something was indeed happening. Baby was monitored regularly with the doppler, and was doing well both during contractions and between contractions, which was a huge relief. Justin and Molly took turns forcing me to eat and drink, resting, and supporting me through contractions. This made me incredibly grateful to be doing a home birth, where rest was possible. In the morning after some rest, I worked hard to get that baby out - I did lunges, squats, walked the stairs, and abdominal “lift and tucks” (which made contractions very intense - I hated them!). By 10am, I was dilated to 6-7cm and was 80% effaced. I was glad to be progressing, but definitely wished that it would happen faster! I was, however, incredibly exhausted by this point and rested again. Throughout the afternoon, contractions got much more intense - there were many times when I said something to the effect of, “I feel like my butt is going to fall off!” By 3pm, I was 7-8cm dilated, with less dilation happening on the right side due to the baby being a bit stuck. We tried doing side lying releases, but I wasn’t having it, so we switched to trying to use the rebozo method. This helped take some of the heaviness off my back and felt nice. Kelsi the midwife arrived at about 4pm, and we discussed having Danielle come over again. Mary called her and Danielle arrived around 5pm. She adjusted me again, did acupuncture (though with fewer needles this time because it was difficult for me to stay still through contractions), and had me get into a deep runner’s lunge on the right side - this brought on the most intense contractions yet, by far. During the contractions in the runner’s lunge position, I said, “I can’t do this” for the first time - Justin, Molly, and Danielle were all wonderful with reassuring me that I could, in fact do this, and reminding me that I was safe and strong. Being in the runner’s lunge position through so many contractions made things progress more quickly, and by 8pm I was 8cm dilated on the right and 9cm on the left. They filled the tub with warm water and I got in around 9pm. Being in the water felt wonderful, though the contractions were still incredibly intense. By this point, I was so in my own head that I hardly knew what was going on around me and was fully focused on safely bringing this baby into the world. I was disappointed to find out that I needed to do runner’s lunges in the tub as well and my vocalizations were much louder than they had been earlier. Molly would come over to the tub and put an orange slice or apple slice or coconut water near my head and make me eat to keep up my energy. I found this incredibly annoying, but certainly see the value now! At 10:45, I thought I heard something that sounded like a gunshot and felt a huge release of pressure - it took me a few seconds to realize what had happened, but then I asked if my water had broken and they confirmed that it had. Ten minutes later, I felt the overwhelming need to push. It was like my body was doing it for me, and all I needed to do was let it happen. Pushing was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and yet felt empowering and relieving. At one point, someone told me that I could reach down and feel where the baby was. I was able to feel the baby’s head about to come out, which was so incredible. I said, “that’s not a part of my body!” Feeling the head gave me a renewed energy and with just a few more pushes, baby was out at 11:41pm! Kelsi gave the baby a little nudge, and I pulled the baby out of the water. It was the most exhilarating and emotional experience to hold my baby for the first time. I had unknowingly scooted backwards in the tub throughout the pushing time, so I had to move forward so that Justin could see and touch the baby too. At first there was no crying and our back rubbing didn’t seem to be enough, so Mary quickly cleared the airway and then we heard that first cry! I sat in the tub and Justin and I marveled at our baby. Mary kept using he/him pronouns, so we assumed that the baby had male genitalia, but then she said, “I don’t know why I keep saying he!” so I checked and that’s when we knew that our baby would be named Imogen. I commented that she “didn’t even look like an alien,” as we had been prepared for a funny looking baby. But she was perfect! Justin cut the cord after about 25 minutes, and I delivered the placenta after about 30 minutes. Justin had his first skin-to-skin time as Kelsi helped me out of the tub, to the bathroom, and into bed. Molly heated up the pho that we had ordered on Saturday and brought it to us - it tasted like THE best meal I had ever eaten. Molly headed out after that. In bed, we were able to study every lovely element of Imogen. She had the longest toes and perfect little ears. Her shoulders were furry with lanugo and her skin was sticky with vernix. Her fingernails already needed a trim, too! We took some pictures and sent some of the basics about her to close family members - we included a picture, her name and nickname (Mo), and birth stats (9 pounds 4 ounces and 22 inches long). Mary and Kelsi cleaned everything up and then checked on Mo and I. She passed her newborn exam with flying colors, and I was grateful to not need any stitches. After giving some instructions for the next 30 hours or so until Mary would come back, Mary and Kelsi left. It was a bizarre feeling having everyone gone and having a baby outside of my body! We slept for a few hours, and when we woke up to feed Imogen, I said, “she’s still here!” - a comment that would be repeated a lot in the first few days. I felt disbelief and amazement that I had actually grown a human being inside of my body and then spent 43 hours pushing her out. There was truly no way to prepare for the flood of emotions that I would feel finally having her in my arms. Imogen Vale, you are so loved!