Owen

I woke up around 3:00 in the morning, but I wasn't feeling pressure waves or anything, I have just been getting up around 3-4 to use the bathroom. My husband says I woke him up around 4:30, but I don't really know when I started feeling anything. He started timing the waves, and I was about ten minutes apart, so we decided to get up and get dressed and all that. I called my sister/doula around six and told her that I might be having the baby that day, but I wasn't really sure. My pressure waves hurt way less than my Braxton Hicks did, so I didn't think that they were the real thing.

My sister showed up around 7 and I had a few pressure waves, but they were not regular or anything. We decided to go to the hospital because of the air conditioning.....We had shut our air off because our energy bill was too high. I was totally expecting my midwife to tell me that I wasn't really in labor and to go home.

We got to the hospital around 8:20, and my midwife and a nurse were waiting for us and already had the tub filled. She checked me right away and I was 7 centimeters and 90 %. I was in major labor and it wasn't even really bothering me. I had to stop whenever I had a pressure wave, and my sister would put pressure on my lower back and then I would be fine. They never used the belt monitor thingie on me at all, only checked the baby using the doppler. So after she checked my dilation and everything, and Owen's heartbeat, I went to the bathroom and then got directly into the tub.

It felt amazing and I was so comfortable in there I was afraid my labor would stop. So I hung out in the tub, first on hands and knees so my sister could put pressure on my back but my hands started to fall asleep so I flipped over to my back. After that I just kinda moaned very low and deep through my waves. Anytime I started to get tensed up, my sister would rub the lines on my forehead and I would remember to relax my face which would help relax me everywhere. My water broke on its own when I was in the tub, and it was very interesting because I felt it "pop."

After a few more pressure waves my body started pushing automatically, and I told my midwife that I was pushing and she told me to go ahead and do whatever I felt like. Owen was crowning for about ten minutes and at one point I stopped pushing and said "I need to breathe" and everyone in the room was like "NO, you need to push NOW!" So I pushed one more time and he was out and she handed him right to me. Afterwards my sister told me that after his head came out, his shoulders stopped and they were worried that he might have been stuck. He weighed 10 lbs, 21 inches, with a 36.5 centimeter head. I did not tear at all. I had no I.V., no drugs, nothing. It was the best experience I could have possibly hoped for. I had the perfect birth experience and I feel like something was redeemed from my first son's birth. I really really hope everyone on here has the same feelings after they give birth.