I woke up at midnight exactly on our due date to contractions that were mild and irregular. I timed them while I prepared last minute items. At 4am my contractions were 3 minutes apart and lasting 30 to 45 seconds. My contractions timer app kept saying it wasnt time to go to the hospital and I wasn't in active labor. I called my MIL to watch our toddler and woke my husband. By 5 am I was still laughing and able to talk but since our hospital was 40 mins away, my husband wanted to leave. Halfway there, my water broke in the car. Contractions became intense and I was hurting. I had to get on my hands and knees to bear with the pain. It was 6AM by the time I got into triage. I was checked and told I was 4 to 5 cm. At this point the contractions became excruciating and I couldn't cope. I had wanted to go unmedicated and had prepared my entire pregnancy. Well, I wasnt prepared. I was admitted and taken to a room quickly. I was literally yelling for an Anesthesiologist. I started to feel like my body wanted to push but I had just been told I was 4 to 5cm only minutes ago. The doctor on call checked again and I was 9.5 cm with a "lip" of cervix. I was told not to push. My body was pushing anyways. The anesthesiologist came but there was no way I was going to be able to hold still for the epidural. Also, I instinctively knew pushing would be a relief somehow. My husband also reminded me that I had really wanted an unmedicated birth. I was checked again no more than 5 mins after the last check and it was go time. I was told the baby was "right there". With my next contraction, baby was crowning. The doctor told me to feel, his head was partially out. I remember saying "its squishy!!". One more push and his head was out, two or three more for his shoulders and body. My sweet baby boy Bennett was born on his due date at 6:55 AM after being at the hospital less than an hour and being in labor for less than 7 hours. For comparison, I labored for 30 hours and pushed for 3.5 and had vacuum extraction and episiotomy with my first. This time I had a 1st degree labia tear which I didn't feel until after the fact. My doctor arrived minutes after baby was born. He was surprised how everything went down as my cervix was posterior and 1cm dilated two days prior and I had shown no signs of impending labor.

Baby Bennett was 8lb 9oz and 20.5 inches