Here is the story of labor with my first child. I tried to be detailed and point out the important moments. I woke up on Saturday July 2 to see I lost my mucus plug in the middle of the night. It looked like brown clumpy discharge. Spent all day Saturday and Sunday out and about shopping, eating out, and spending time at the beach with strong BH and very slight cramps way down at my cervix. Since I assumed contractions were felt in the whole uterus I didn't realize I was having pre-labor pains. Sunday night July 3rd, 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant, around 1030pm after seeing the fireworks show my BH became consistent around every 10 min. About an hour later they started to hurt a little more each time. I tried to go to sleep thinking it might be false labor but I wasn't able to sleep because they kept coming and became more painful. We figured it was game time! Hubby and I got excited and started using the relaxation techniques we learned in birth class. Kneeling on the floor draped over a birth ball while hubby rubbed my back felt great. We knew we were going to stick to our birth plan, all natural and in the water tub at the birth center with my midwife. Since it was about 2am we tried to get some rest. I "slept" on the couch between contractions that were on average one min long and seven min apart. They were getting more painful but nothing I couldn't handle with some deep breathing and reminding myself to stay relaxed. I started to get nauseous with each contraction and felt like I needed to poop. I never had diarrhea but did have a couple soft BM early morning. I drank a lot of water which meant I had to pee a lot. I became extremely nauseous during one bathroom visit and nearly vomited. At this point sitting upright on the couch relaxing on pillows felt the most comfortable. The pain was getting worse so I started moaning through contractions thinking it would help ease the pain while hubby stroked my arms and breathed with me to help relax me. My feet were freezing and my head and chest were on fire. Hubby put a blanket on my feet and cold washcloths on my head and shoulders. I was waiting to call my midwife until contractions were at least one minute omg and at most five minutes apart. I used an app on my phone to time contractions but became frustrated because they were just under 1 min long and just over 5 min apart. I decided to stop looking at the clock and just let it happen. At around 8am I decided it was time to call my midwife. She said to take a bath or shower to help speed up and strengthen contractions and call her when there is a significant change. I couldn't stand through contractions without getting extremely lightheaded and nauseous so I took a "bath" (our tub is tiny). After I got back on the couch (falling to hands and knees for a contraction during the 20 foot walk from the bathroom) the washcloth, moaning, stroking ritual continued. I had a couple moments of mental panic that I couldn't stand the pain and wanted pain meds. I said out loud "I can do this" and the hubby was right there giving me affirmations that I was doing it and I was doing an incredible job already. This helped me remember "I could do it, women have been doing this forever. It's natural and the pain is doing good work. The really bad pain only lasts a couple seconds and the stronger it is the faster my baby will be in my arms." After that mental click I stopped moaning, told hubby to stop touching me (we continued the cold washcloths to keep my temp down) and mentally accepted the pain. No amount of soothing techniques was going to reduce the pain so I just had to embrace it. I imagined my cervix opening with the pain and just breathed through it. I went into such a deep mental state that I wasn't aware how close and long my contractions became until I started to get a slight urge to push at the peak of each contraction. I told hubby what was happening that we needed to pack the car, call my midwife, and go to the birth center. I don't know how long it took but it felt like a long time before we were getting in the car. I typically give myself 30 min to get to the birth center. Hubby got us there in 15. I realize now I had been in transition for a while because the pain never fully went away between contractions. I got into our room at the BC around 1120am; I sat down in a comfy chair to continue laboring. At the peak of each contraction I had a strong urge to push but was doing my best to not give in to it yet so I was grunting trying to resist. After about 20 min of this I felt I needed to try to poop again before I start pushing for real. As soon as I got on the toilet I had a strong urge to push and POP! My water breaks. Good thing I was on the toilet! My midwife comes in says, sounds like it's time to get in the tub and push! The water was hot but felt great. Hubby was still able to give me ice cold washcloths which was the most amazing relief since I was sweating like a pig. I was elated I could start pushing, baby would be here soon! I tried not to hold my breath but breathe out while I pushed which made me sound like a dying cow, a very loud dying cow. My midwife suggested I keep changing positions to help get baby moving down so I sat, squatted, used a squatty potty and pulled on a rebozo. I used every muscle in my body and used all my energy with each contraction. Finally we could see her head slowly coming out, 2 steps forward 1 step back with every contraction. My midwife used some essential oil to help make baby's head more slick in the birth canal, she began moving a little quicker after that. Hearing my hubby cheer me on really helped motivate me to push harder and longer. Her head was finally coming out! The ring of fire is no joke while she crowned! I tried breathing through the burning stretching pain; luckily the next contraction didn't take long to arrive. One more push and her head was out! Such a relief! I finally opened my eyes and marveled at all her dark hair! It was incredibly soft when I reached down to touch it. With the next push she slid out and Hubby laid her on my chest. I was so relieved! At 1:41pm, after 2 hours of pushing it's finally over. She's here! I looked at Hubby's tear filled eyes and held her tight to my chest. I was beyond happy. I couldn't believe I did it! I looked at my little girl in amazement. She's so beautiful! She looked identical to Hubby, weird! Of course it doesn't end there, gotta get the placenta out which is accompanied with a LOT of blood. Hubby held baby skin to skin while I was quickly moved to the bed. I think I was bleeding a little more than they wanted so I got a shot of pitocin to contract my uterus to stop the excessive bleeding. After we were settled in bed Hubby, baby and I were left alone for 20 min to bond. Baby found her voice and screamed at us until I was able to latch her to my breast. Luckily she took to nursing immediately and has been a great eater ever since. The midwives came back in to measure baby and stitch up my 2nd degree perineum tear. After hearing baby was 8lb 10oz I wasn't surprised I had a tear. The midwives also believe my due date, July 12, was set too late by the 8 week ultrasound because baby measured over 40 weeks gestation. This lined up better with the date of my last period which determined my due date was July 2. So that's what I'm going with, she was 2 days late. She held on just long enough to be born on Independence Day! It still blows my mind that her birthday is the 4th of July because her name, Saoirse, means liberty in Gaelic. It was meant to be!