January 11th, 3:45 pm

My contractions went from few and far between to 3 minutes apart to kick off active labor. I had taken midwives brew 5 hours earlier and I wasn’t sure if It had actually worked.

I labored at home for about an hour before I reached out to my husband to come home.

5:15pm

About 1.5 hrs into active labor, the contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was feeling like we needed to go to the hospital.

5:30pm

When we arrived, I let them know it was my 5th baby, and that my contractions were 2 minutes apart (I was already 4cm at my appointment the day before). They put me in damn triage anyway.

Labored in triage while I waited to be checked. Seemed like forever, but was maybe 15 minutes. I started feeling cold and my legs felt shaky. I was wondering if it may be transition. The doctor finally checked me and I was at 7cm. Two contractions later, I let them know I felt pressure. For some reason, she decided to check me again?! So she waited through a very long, 2+ minute contraction and announced I was at 9cm.

6:03pm

They threw a sheet over my body to cover me for the trip down the hall. After beginning to roll the bed from triage to the delivery room and realizing it was still plugged in, a nurse came over to swab my nose for Covid.

Whaaat?!!

My husband defended me and told them to wait until after baby was born.

My eyes are closed rolling down the hallway. I’m on my side from the cervical checks in an awkward, uncomfortable position against the bed rail thinking, “this is not how I imagined having this baby!”. The bed is bumping into door frames and is a bit of a crazy ride.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to push. I announced she was coming and they told me to pant like a dog, so that I could hold on longer. With my other 4, I had more mental capacity to push with a contraction or not. Not this time! I could feel her head pop out, under the sheet while everyone was busy rolling the bed. I was worried no one was tending to my baby.

It turns out, my water was still in tact, so her head was still in a bubble with her head out— which is really rare! She’s a mermaid!

6:10pm

Moments later, we’re in the delivery room and they tell me to push. I give a big, long push and she was fully born, with the water breaking on that final push.

For the first time, I didn’t tear! My blood loss was very low, another very unusual thing for me. I had SO much energy because it was only 6pm and I only labored 2.5 hours. It was incredible to already be done. A crazy delivery, but a wonderful one!

Praise the Lord for a safe and healthy delivery for us both! God is so good. Welcome to the world, Violet!