Saturday the 15th Dh and I DTD, then I wanted to go for a long walk. Since we live in a small town we had to drive a good 30 minutes to go anywhere. We hopped in the car and I decided to drive since I figured after I walked all day I would be too tired to drive home.

This was around 3PM and on the way there I felt my first contraction. We all decided we were hungry so we went to eat first. The contractions were really picking up just sitting and eating but they never really bothered me.

After we ate we went to Lowes and walked around there for awhile. Contractions were still going strong. I wanted to start timing them, but it was hard while I was walking. I told DH and the kids I want to go back to the car and time a few to see where I was at.

We sat in the car for a good 20 minutes and I noticed they were coming every 4-5minutes and were lasting about a minute. Since I didn’t want them to go away and see if they got stronger we decided to walk around Wal-Mart for awhile.

The contractions were still doing good and some were getting intense. So after about 30 minutes in Wal-Mart I said lets go home so I can rest. On the way home I tried calling the midwife to just let her know what was going on.

Her phone was having some issues so I decided to just wait until I got home. I figure I would lie down on my left side to see what happens. When I got home I immediately went upstairs and lay on my bed. Sadly the contractions were getting farther apart.

I got a hold of my midwife and let her know the activity I was having, but told her it felt they were going away. She told me they could come back, that my body could just be tired and it’s giving me time to rest.

She also said they may not come back for a few days. There was no way of knowing. It was disappointing, and I decided to go downstairs and watch some TV to get my mind off of it all. After about an hour I got really tired so I decided to try and sleep.

This was about 1030PM. I went to lie down and decided to play on my phone for a bit, meanwhile the kids were tired and wanted to come and up and sleep with me. They fell asleep around 1140 or so. I decided to go to sleep too.

I was just lying on the pillow thinking when suddenly a contraction came. I didn’t really think much of it, until I got another one. They were coming back pretty intense. I tried to sleep but I just couldn’t and felt awake at this point.

I went downstairs to lie on the couch and told DH they were back again. I started timing them and they were about 4 minutes apart. I was hesitant to call the midwife back, so I waited about 30 minutes. I was telling DH I didn’t want this to be fake labor

And I was kind of worried to bother the midwife. I called her anyways and told her what was going on again. She told me she had a feeling I was going to call her back so she never went to bed. She asked me what I wanted to do, and I kind of asked her what she wanted to do.

She said she could come over and if it wasn’t time she would just veg out on the couch. I told her OK. After that DS woke up wanting me to come back to bed, but I couldn’t lie down at this point. He was pretty cranky, but eventually got over it when he knew the baby was coming.

I was still in denial that this could be the real thing. The contractions were intense, but I still felt great. I called up my MIL to come over so she could watch the kids, and she really wanted to be here to see the baby being born.

I let her know this might not be it yet, but she wanted to come anyways. After that I realized I started pacing downstairs and when a contraction came I had to lean on something and sway my hips through them. I wanted to call the midwife and see where she was,

but her phone went straight to voicemail. I called one of the assistants who lives less than 5 minutes from me and she said she was leaving right now. She arrived around 215, and the midwife and apprentice arrived at 230. At this time my contractions were coming every 2-3minutes.

Dh and the assistant got the tub out and starting filling it up. Meanwhile I went upstairs to my dds room where it was quiet, the midwife followed me so she can take my vitals and check on baby. Everything was great. She was timing my contractions, and we would talk between them. It was nice and relaxing. I remember asking her if she thought this was it. Her obvious response was yes. My DD finally woke up and I told her the baby is coming. She got so excited! The midwife and I went to my room since it was nice and big, and to me it was my sanctuary. Contractions were slowly getting more painful, but I still didn’t feel ready for the tub.

We continued to talk on the edge of my bed and she was lightly rubbing my back. It was just so nice. The asst. came up and asked how I was doing and joined in the convo. Since the contractions were coming closer together and more intense, I couldn’t find a comfortable position to labor through them

With the asst. of my midwife and the asst. I tried the birth ball, being on all 4s, standing and swaying while I was leaning on the midwife. Nothing was working! I was ready for the tub. But first the midwife had to check my progression because I had to be at least 4cm to get into the water.

Well it turned out I was 8 1/2cm. I didn’t believe it. The midwife said she could feel babies head and it felt like she has hair! They helped me down the stairs and into the pool. It was about 445 when I got in. It felt so nice and warm. Just as I was getting comfortable and about to "enjoy" the tub a huge contraction came.

It was the worst one yet! I remembering being like holy crap thank goodness that is over with. And another one hit again. They kept coming and I got like maybe a minute of rest in between them. It was hard to surrender to them, so I leaned over the tub onto the assistant and pretty much screamed through them.

Within minutes I had to push and OMG that hurt! That was worse than the contractions and my screaming only got louder. I was still holding onto the assistant, and also my midwife's hands. I could feel baby descending down and I was curious if I could feel her.

In that process I had to push again and her head was coming. Next thing you know I felt her head out. (at this point I was told later that she had her eyes wide open and was just looking around under water. Apparently DH was in shock to see this.)Quickly after her head emerged I felt the rest of her coming. The midwife told me to turn around and grab her. I saw her floating in the water and picked her up to my chest. It was an amazing experience to do that! When she was on my chest I stared at her and talked to her, while they put warm blankets on her and was checking her out. She was covered in a lot of vernix. I started rubbing her back and she started letting out little whimpers. It was just amazing and I was in total awe that I did it.

I got out of the tub to deliver the placenta. And my DD got to cut the cord. She was so happy. With help I went to the couch to lie down and baby was getting weighed and measured. Before the weighing began the midwife asked everyone for guesses. I shouted 7lbs 10oz and others were like 8lbs, 6lbs. Well I somehow nailed it. Everyone couldn’t believe I knew it. Even the midwife. Lucky guess definitely! Baby was brought to my chest but she still wasn't too interested in nursing. She was very alert and looking around at everything. Shortly after that I got brought upstairs with baby so we could rest.

I still cannot believe she was actually here and that I did this. I also can’t believe from the time everyone got here to baby being born was only 2 ½ hrs! I was only in the tub for 15mins before she came. Pretty crazy to think about. We are all getting settled in, and she has been a great nurser and great baby. We all couldn't be happier as a family of 5 now.