It was 3am June 6th that I woke up to a deep pelvic ache, growing in intensity and then fading, just like contractions. I went to the bathroom and started cleaning the kitchen and making my red raspberry leaf tea for the day, since there was no way I was going back to sleep. I couldn't go very fast at all since I would have pretty intense contractions about every 5 or 6 min, and I figured it may not be real labor, but I'd clean the kitchen anyway just in case. I discovered whenever I sat down to rest, the contractions would space out to about every 10 min, so my hopes were not high.

At around 7:30, I had contacted my midwife (who I was planning on having a home birth with) and my doula. My midwife told me to work through them and let her know when the contractions were coming regularly even while resting, and my doula told me to drink tons of water and go for a walk. My two year old woke up around that time and was super clingy and tantrum-y. Whenever she'd have a tantrum my contractions would stop altogether, so my husband and I called his sister to come take care of her for the day. As soon as they left, my contractions picked up a lot!

After that I took a shower and tried to take a nap(my first labor took about 24hrs and I didn't want to be that tired again) but the contractions were so bad, not only could I not sleep, but I started to have to ask my husband for counter pressure. The pain and intensity was building fast, so I told my midwife and doula to come over. I knew at that point the labor was not going away until my baby was out.

When everyone got to my house, I was at a 9 dilated, which was so crazy to me! I figured I had HOURS to go until I was dilated that much! A few more really hard and intense contractions and I was starting to grunt, feeling pushy. They brought me to the bed and I started pushing, which was so so difficult. My midwife could tell it was a really big baby and she also saw that my pelvis was shaped a certain way that made it really small, so she had me push on my back to prevent tearing as much as possible. I hated it! I had pushed on a birthing stool for my first baby and the gravity helped so much. The time I felt gravity work against me and it made me feel nauseous. I also felt a ton of widening and pressure in my hips, which now I know was to make room for my 9.5 lb baby! It was a very long process, an hour and 20 min. I pushed so hard and so long that when the head finally came out, I didn't quite believe it, and in the next push was shocked when they finally placed my baby on my chest!!

I looked and discovered my baby was a girl! It was amazing, even though i had to get 11 stitches afterwards. One of the most painful and difficult experiences of my life, but also one of the most transformative. We are so so happy for our little Kate, born 6/6/16, 9lb 9oz, 23 inches long.