Birth Story

I started to feel some mild cramping just after dinner as we were sitting down to watch TV. It came every 30 mins or so and so I didn't really think much of it since it wasn't painful. The baseball game was going late so I went to bed around 9. 

I woke up again around 2 am feeling discomfort from the cramping so I started to time them. They were between 1.5-2 mins apart but not any more painful than menstrual cramps. I remembered our midwife suggesting to take a bath in order to determine if it was actually labour. So I told my husband I was having a bath, to which he sleepily replied "don't fall asleep in there". Hahaha, as if. 

The bath didn't change things so I got into bed and tried to rest while continuing to time contractions. At 5 am I decided to wake my husband and call our midwife. The cramping wasn't strong, but came frequently so I wasn't sure what was going on. The midwife spoke to me for a few minutes and didn't think I was in active labour since I was able to comfortably speak through contractions. She suggested that I take some Tylenol and another bath and to call her back afterwards. 

I got in the bath again and the contractions started coming much stronger. My husband was sitting on the toilet next to me trying to read our books to figure out which stage of labour I might be in. He kept saying "you could be in any of these!"  

So I called the midwife back and she decided to come over. I also called my family since I was planning a homebirth and they wanted to be there when the baby was born. 

The contractions were much stronger at this point where I needed to hold on to my husbands shoulders while standing to get through them. It was pretty funny since he was also trying to prepare the bed between contractions which were about 1.5 mins apart at this point. 

The midwife arrived around 7 am and I was already 5cm dilated. Woo Hoo! I spent some time labouring while standing and got back in the tub for a bit. My husband poured warm bath water on my belly which helped me get through each wave. 

I was in the bath during transition and vomitted a few times over the side into a bucket. This was the worst! But I knew it meant I was in transition and the end was near. So I got out of the tub and returned to labouring on the bed. 

At some point my water broke during a contraction and my midwife offered to break it the rest of the way. I don't remember this much but my husband said I found it a bit uncomfortable, and labour became more intense after that. 

Luckily by the time I started saying "I can't do this anymore", I was 10 cm dilated. The most surprising part of labour for me was how much my body took over when it was time to push. It was like a switch flipped, and it was something I could not control. My body pushed my baby out completely without my intervention. I did a lot of reading and attended prenatal classes while pregnant and only ever heard of "the urge to push". This was much more. 

After 40 minutes of pushing, my baby girl was born at 7lbs 6oz, only 5.5 hours of active labour. It was a fast delivery and I'm so happy I was able to have her naturally at home!