I never posted the birth story for my first daughter, who will be 2 in January. With her, I woke up on my due date with contractions, labored for 15 hours and got an epidural in the middle of that (dilated 5-6 cm with nasty back labor) and pushed for 13 minutes. Everything was smooth and steady except for a small infection scare because I developed a fever and we both had elevated heart rates. But my water had only been broken for an hour before I delivered and everything looked good. Placenta came back clear of infection. She's been a healthy happy kiddo.

With my second, I was due December 26. I had told my midwives that I wanted to try going unmedicated and I thought I could do it if it was faster and I didn't have back labor. I woke up at 2:00 am on my due date with cramping and I could tell something was off. But for some reason I was very calm about everything. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't so I got up and logged onto my work laptop. While I'm off work someone has to take over my projects so I checked my emails and tidied things up. I was pretty sure I was in labor but I think I was in denial! I was breathing through contractions that were decently strong but not that bad compared to my memories of the first time. I thought I had a long day ahead of me.

I wanted my husband to be rested and happy so I didn't wake him up until 4:00. I called my sister at that point to come over to watch my daughter. By then I was having to squat down with each contraction, lean forward and kind of vocalize or moan through it. But my brain was still weirdly calm and I got dressed and washed my face.

After my husband got up things got more intense. I was making a lot of noise with each contraction and my daughter was awake. At one point I laid down on the couch hoping to slow things down and my water ruptured a little with a contraction. I was annoyed because I had to change out of the sweatpants I wanted to wear. My husband quickly got things ready and we left for the hospital at 5:00. Apparently he was freaking out and knew better than me that I was decently far along. Honestly I really thought I'd only be dilated to like a 6 when we got there. We called the midwife on the way. I was gripping the panic handle in the car so hard with each contraction, only a couple minutes apart. Managed to text my boss that I was out.

We got to the hospital and parked in the drop off zone. We were already checked in so headed up the elevator. Apparently there were no nurses to be found on the l&d floor. Someone brought us to triage room and very casually gave me the spiel and told me to undress. She was in no hurry but again my poor husband was apparently very concerned. I got my pants off and laid down. Someone started to put a monitor on my belly but with the next contraction I felt the baby starting to come out! I heard people say "oh no" and I shouted that I wasn't pushing on purpose! Right then the midwife arrived and said you're having a baby! I said but this is the wrong room! 😂

Two more involuntary pushes and she was out at 5:49! I noticed that the louder I screamed the easier it was to push so I went with that. I couldn't believe what happened and how close we cut it! What a whirlwind!