My daughter is 5 months old now so I’m very late on this! But definitely wanted to tell you ladies about it since I literally obsessed over birth stories during my pregnancy! I loved reading them!

So, here we go!

I woke up April 17th, my due date, and told my husband that I felt like I was going to go over due, and that baby girl was just comfortable and let’s just stop trying to induce labor. (I tried EVERYTHING, besides castor oil) He agreed and we spent our short day together before he had to head to his graveyard shift! Before he headed to work we had sex, and I started to have contractions, nothing to start timing yet as they were just coming and going. And honestly, I was so over timing contractions that weren’t the real deal so I just ignored them as long as I possibly could 🤣

I put a movie on for my oldest to fall asleep to and FaceTimed my sister! We were talking and laughing and I told her I was having some small contractions but we both were over my false alarms so we just kept talking.

She started to notice I was pausing and couldn’t talk through them, so she convinced me to time them. My first two that I timed were about 10 minutes apart. Cool no biggie! The birthing center said my contractions had to be at 3-1-1 before I could come in, but they had said to call and let the midwife know at about 6-1-1 due to my first being such a short labor.

Still on the phone with my sister, at 10:11pm I had one that was 4 minutes apart. I thought maybe I timed it wrong, but it was definitely a real contraction. I waited for the next one to see if it was going to be 4 minutes apart again. 10:14pm, I had another! My contractions were 3-4 minutes apart so I called my husband to tell him I could possibly be in labor, but I was so afraid of it being a false alarm I didn’t want him to leave work for no reason. So I was just breathing through the contractions on my knees leaning over my yoga ball swaying back and forth. It was funny because when I was having a contraction I’d tell him “please come right now!” And when they’d go away I’d tell him I was totally fine and there’s no rush 🤣🤣 I told him I was going to text the birth photographer and tell her tonight could be the night, and that I was going to call the midwife and see what she thought.

On the phone with the midwife she was asking the basic questions, how long, how far apart, etc etc. I was starting to pack my bag and she was listening to my breathing through the phone, as soon as I said “it feels so good to stand” she was like “no no no go lay down until husband gets there!”

Called my husband and he was already almost to the house, a 15 minute drive back home felt like hours! 😩 as soon as he walked in he grabbed our bag and we headed out the door. (Grandma was at the house with my oldest)

Literally the car ride was the worst part, it was so uncomfortable I just wanted to get out and walk! My body wanted gravity to assist SO bad! During my contractions I was doing a weird deep noise, lol. Like OOOOOOOOO 🤣 but it helped so much, I was trying so hard to not tense up especially being in the car. The birthing center was 20 minutes away originally and my husband made it there in 10!

We got to the birthing center BEFORE the nurse and midwife, so I had to sit in the car during my contractions until one of them got there. Once the nurse arrived we went into the birthing center, I literally don’t even remember walking into our room, lol.

Once we got into the room I remember wanting to strip down to my bralette cause I got so hot! I went pee, and turned on the cool water in the shower to cool off.

The midwife finally arrived! She had asked me if I wanted her to check me and during my contraction I was like hell no, but as soon as it went away I told her to hurry before another contraction started (they were like 1 minute apart) I laid down and she had told me I was 9cm!!! When she was done checking me I instantly felt the urge to push, so I began pushing on the bed but had felt like I was getting no where!

So my midwife asked if I wanted to give the birthing stool a try. I waddled over to the birthing stool and started pushing again, gravity was doing its thing that’s forsure! From the time I started pushing she was out 9 minutes later!

My birth photographer arrived as soon as I delivered my placenta, so she missed the birth but did capture some amazing photos for us afterwards!

My all natural labor was the most empowering, beautiful experience. I was so proud of myself because I truly thought I was going to chicken out. As my due date got closer I got more and more nervous, but I fricken DID IT!

My baby girl was a whole 9 pounds 21 inches, born on her due date April 17th, 2019 at 11:52pm.

My girls! 💖