My daughter was due February 25, 2007. Around the 12th I started to come down with sinusitis. I tried taking over the counter medications to manage it. By the evening of the 16th (Friday) my throat was so sore I could barely swallow. I was afraid I was coming down with Strep Throat. I decided that on Monday, the 19th, I would schedule an appointment with one of my midwives, to see if I needed antibiotics.

I woke up around 3:00 am Monday morning to go to the bathroom, I saw a small amount of blood and mucus in the toilet. I panicked for a moment, then remembered just because I had lost a little bit of my plug did not mean labor was imminent. I went back to bed. I could not fall asleep, I was thinking of all the things I needed to get done before the baby came. We had just moved into our house over the weekend. Nothing in the nursery was put together. I had not washed any of the baby clothes or bedding. I got up and began to do the laundry and pack a bag for the birthing center.

My husband, Robert, got up to get ready for work around 6:00 am. By this time I was feeling a little achy, like I was having light menstrual cramps. I was also sore from coughing and sneezing due to my sinus infection. I reassured him that I was fine, and sent him on to work.

I was able to make an appointment at the birthing center at 10:00 am. I went in and was told (what I already knew) I had a bad sinus infection. I was prescribed antibiotics. I told Amy about the blood, plug, and cramps. The midwife said most likely the hard coughing and caused me to blow a little of the mucus plug. She told me that she bet I would go into labor as soon as the sinus stuff cleared up. That it is unusual to go into labor when you are sick, that you body knows it can't handle both things at once. Made sense to me. I asked her to do an exam, just to make me feel better, I tend to be a worry wart. She did, and said I had begun to thin, and reinforced the "you'll go into labor when your well" theory.

I returned home and rested the remainder of the day. Every thing continued on as it had. I was still having
cramps and losing little bits of my plug every time I went to the restroom. I wasn't overly concerned about labor beginning anytime soon.

That evening after Robert got home from work, we began getting the nursery ready. We put the bassinet together and placed it in our bedroom. He got the crib together. We finally went to bed around Midnight.

I had just lied down and gotten comfortable (well as comfy as I could get at this point) when I had a strong pain. Much harder and longer than anything else I had had before. I waited a few minutes later another one came. I told Robert, and asked him to time them for me. The contractions continued to come every 3 minutes and were 30 seconds in length. The time in between was good, but they were not lasting long enough. My midwife had said to call when the contractions were 4 minutes apart and 60 seconds in duration. The Bradley book had said contractions lasting less that 45-60 seconds were not doing much good.

We kept timing them, 2-3 minutes apart, 30 to 45 second duration. The contractions were becoming more and more intense. This continued for about a half hour. I ran my bathtub to see if it would help with the pain. It did not. I started to drain the tub, the bathroom proceeded to flood. Water was backing up everywhere. This caused Robert to freak out. He was trying to stop the flood, I was trying to get through the contractions. I finally had to grab his shoulders and tell him to calm down, I needed him to focus on coaching me, I could not do this without him. That worked. We ended up putting a comforter in
the floor to keep the water from making it to the carpet.

It was now around 1:00am. I called the midwife to let her know what was going on, and to see if I needed to go ahead and head to the center. Becky was on call. She asked if I had tried getting in the water. I answered yes. She said to go ahead and come in, she would check me out.

It took us about half an hour to reach the center. I learned bumpy roads are not fun while in labor. Once inside, Robert turned to go get our stuff. Becky said to wait, she wanted to check me first. Just to make sure this was not a false alarm. After confirming this was the real thing, I was already at 4 cm, Robert brought in our stuff and we headed up stairs.

The contractions came stronger and stronger. It seemed like I had barely finished one when another began. I was not marinating control like I hoped I'd be able to. I was beginning to think I could not do this. Which I became very vocal about. Around 2:00am (ish) Becky checked me again, I was dilated to a 7. Not much longer now.

I had originally wanted a waterbirth, but since I was progressing so quickly, Becky did not have time to fill the pool. I did have the freedom to move around and try different positions though. I liked using the labor ball and pillows to prop myself with. Another position that I liked was squatting on the bed and holding on to the bedposts.

Soon after I began having the urge to push. It felt good to push. Becky said not to push too much, I wasn't quite ready. The urge became stronger. She checked me again around 2:30-45. I was a 10! I could push! I started pushing as hard as I could. I could feel her move down a little bit, then move back up a little. This continued for what seemed like forever.

Finally, at 3:45 am, (after only being in labor 3 hours and 45 minutes) Lorien Nicole was placed on my chest! She was absolutely beautiful! As soon as I saw her the memories of the pain faded. She weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long. Her Apgar score was 9/9. She is a beautiful and healthy little girl.

The delivery of the placenta went smoothly. I had one small tear, that did not require sutures. We were able to go home at 3:00p that afternoon.

I had a wonderful birth experience. I loved being able to do everything the natural way. The birthing center and all it’s employees were great! If I ever decide to have another baby, I hope my experience is similar to this one. The only thing I would change is I want to take the Bradley classes instead of just reading the book.