I woke up around midnight with a contraction and knew at that point I couldn’t sleep through them. I let Kenny sleep and went downstairs, ate a sandwich, and drank some Red Raspberry Leaf Tea. I watched TV and labored a while. Maddy woke up at 2:30 a.m. and I went in to nurse her back to sleep, thinking how this would be the last time I would be nursing only one child. Boy, it was tough to nurse through the contractions and I thought it was time to
call my midwife, Reita. When I called her at 2:30 a.m., I told her the contractions were 5 minutes apart, but not that tough yet. I told her not to come yet, and that I would call her if there were any changes. Well, I woke Kenny up at 3:00 a.m. , told him I was sure this was it, and at that point, the contractions really started getting tougher. I called Reita back at 3:30 a.m., and told her I thought it was time for her to come. At 4 a.m., I called
my friend Beth who was going to help with the birth and labor support. Beth and one of my midwife’s assistants got to my house at 5:00 a.m., at this point I was laboring on my bed on all fours propped on pillows - and feeling like I was in active labor. It felt really good to be on all fours during contractions, and I maintained this position for most of my labor. Madeline woke at 5:30 to a house full of midwives and a friend brought her downstairs
for breakfast.

Reita checked me at 6 am and I was 4 cm dilated with a very soft cervix. I was glad I made progress. but worried I would be laboring this hard for a long time. Beth was wonderful talking me through each contraction, telling me that my cervix was soft and would open quickly. The contractions were very powerful and it helped to think of what Ina May Gaskin wrote of in Spiritual Midwifery “think of the contraction as an interesting sensation that
requires all of your concentration...” also I was moaning “open” and listening to ocean waves on my CD player. I was talking and even joking some in-between contractions the whole time. I had to have Kenny by my side every minute.

Around 7 am I decided I wanted to get in the tub - Kenny filled it to the top, surrounded it with candles (it was still dark outside), and brought the ocean wave music in the bathroom. During a contraction, I would get on all fours or kneel with my head on the side of the tub, and moan loudly through the contraction. Beth would apply counterpressure to my lower back, and talk me through the contraction. I was feeling like it was transistion, but
didn’t want to get my hopes up. At about 7:30 a.m., just as the sun was coming up, I started to feel like I wanted to push. I tried pushing a little with a contraction, and I liked it. Reita checked me in the tub and said my cervix was gone. I was so excited! I decided Io wanted to push on my bed - so we propped me up with pillows and I began pushing. However, baby’s heartrate was dropping and Reita said he didn’t like that position, so I rolled on
my left side and we just listened through a couple of contractions to see how he was doing. His heartrate picked right up. I tried pushing on my side, but didn’t like it, tried all fours on my bed, and Reita suggested pushing standing, holding on to Kenny for a couple of contractions. That really did something - kind of juggled him into a good position. From there I got on the birthing chair at the foot of the bed and pushed very, very hard. He was
really tough to push out, and it never really felt “good” to push -there was quite a bit of back pain with the contractions. Finally I began to feel the burning at the outlet of my vagina, and I knew his head was coming. Reita had a mirror set up, but I couldn’t concentrate on pushing if I opened my eyes. In between contractions, I rested against Kenny and he supported me. Soon I heard Kenny saying he sees the baby’s head, I felt a tremendous burning
and they shouted his head was out - Reita said “oh - his hand is under his chin - that’s what was going on” - I gave one more push and he was immediately on my lap. It was 8:40 a.m. after 1 hour and 10 minutes of pushing. He was a little gray and floppy - the pushing was hard on both of us. But he immediately pinked up and began crying - I felt underneath him to find out what he was and felt that he was a boy! I told everyone, and Reita looked under
to make sure. He latched on immediately and began nursing - I couldn’t believe how beautiful he was and he looked at me with such alert, knowing eyes. The lights were out and soft morning sunlight was streaming through the windows, he was so peaceful and did not cry again. Madeline came up from downstairs and met her new brother - she rubbed his slippery head and said “Mommy, he’s nursing”. We got in bed and nursed and he just looked around and took
everything in. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces. A friend of mine made us brunch and we had champagne. After the midwives checked us over, cleaned up and left, Kenny, Jackson and I got in bed and took a nice morning nap together (Madeline wanted to go up the street to her friend’s house to play). It was truly a beautiful birth!