Saturday and Sunday I was just absolutely exhausted so I knew I was in pre labor.
my waters started leaking slowly Saturday night.
Sunday night contractions started getting a lot more noticeable but not crazy. I told Matt we would have a baby by next weekend.
Monday morning around 4 am they were waking me up so I took a bath, napped but couldn’t really sleep through contractions so I just started doing things to help move along, yoga, sitting on the ball etc.
It kind of slowed down and we had an appointment with our midwife that evening, they started to get more intense and close after the appointment so I had a glass of wine and took a bath to get some sleep, slept decent until 3 am Tuesday morning, got up, took a bath and ate and did what I could to get through contractions.
Around 2:30 pm I transitioned and got in the birth tub, by this time I couldn’t get through contractions without yelling.
Our midwife got here about 6:30. She checked me and I was at 6 cm and my waters were still there, it had been leaking from the top.
I stayed in the tub for quite a while.
When I started getting little urges to push, my water popped like a balloon.
She had me get out to try a few different positions and got back in for a bit longer.
I remember sitting on the couch and Matt asked if I wanted to play quixx & I said give me a minute. Then a contraction started and I started to squirm & my midwife said don’t run from it.
I said I just want to lay down but I couldn’t
She moved us to the bed & Matt Laid with me while I yelled through contractions
Around 10 I was like am I going to have this baby in the next 24 hours lol
She said after midnight
I was at about 9 cm around 11-11:30 with just a tiny bit of my cervix holding back. She gave me a homeopathic to help soften it and had me sit on the toilet backwards for a bit.
We moved to the bedroom close to midnight and started pushing in the bed, on the floor, on the birth chair, we did tug of war, hands and knees.
I pushed for over an hour and he made his way through at 1:05 am Wednesday morning on hands and knees on my bedroom floor.
He was turned a little so he came out a little sideways, so I did tear but not too awful.
I flipped over and got him on my chest, my placenta came out less than 20 minutes later.
Matt took him while I peed and got stitched up.
I got on the couch and had him breastfeeding by 2
We were all sleeping by 3:30
The midwife and assistant cleaned up and left around 5.
Maternity and newborn are by @simpledimplephotography
Midwife is Terrie Lemley from Gentle Harbor Midwifery in Michigan