Since about 37 weeks, I’d been in occasional prodromal labor, experiencing regular, weak contractions for several hours at a time. After a few weeks, I realized things always picked up on Fridays and then relaxed again by Monday. Jokingly I’d predicted June liked Fridays for birthdays (and Eleanor was born on a Friday as well) but I think actually my body liked them — I knew I had the weekend to relax and Jeff would be close by, and that confidence is what seems to lead to labor for me. I was also thinking Labor Day would be a fun day to have her — coincidentally, I spent most of Labor Day in prodromal labor, but didn’t wind up at the hospital. She was taking her time. My brother Devan asked me on the Tuesday after Labor Day, “What’s up with June?” and I told him, I think she’s coming on Friday. I just had a feeling. I was right!

On Friday morning at 9, I had an appointment with the midwife. It was another Non-Stress Test, and once again it was a relaxing and reassuring experience. Eleanor had been sick but she behaved very well and we sat peacefully in the examining room listening to June’s heart for a half hour. She looked great, passed with flying colors. Then Missy (my midwife) checked my dilation — 4 and a half centimeters!! I couldn’t believe it — that’s where I was when I arrived at the hospital with Eleanor! It felt great to have all that work behind me. I went home pretty confident that the birth would be soon — and quick. As soon as I got home I ate a huge helping of chicken enchiladas because I felt like I needed the energy sooner than later. But alas, no contractions.

Around noon my friend Danielle called and asked if I wanted to go swimming at her community pool — I said No, I’d rather go walking, I’m ready to get this show on the road !! So she offered to come over and push Eleanor in the stroller and give me some company while we walked. She came right over and off we went — cruising around the neighborhood, which is right beside the breezy marsh and it’s very shady, so the temperature was perfect and we walked for about 3.5 miles. I felt great and noticed a couple of contractions here and there, but nothing big and certainly not anything like the strong prodromal labor I’d had in the past. We got back to the house after 2 and just sat around talking. It was really relaxing just to chill out and Eleanor needed some downtime anyways since she’d been sick. Around 3 I started noticing a contraction here and there, and they seemed to be getting more regular. Pretty weak though. I was a little disappointed that things had not really taken off so I kinda tried to ignore these so I wouldn’t get all worked up over more practice labor. But after a half hour or so, they seemed to be coming pretty regularly so Danielle started timing them with my iPhone app. Suddenly I had a little motivation to stay focused on my progress and so I did little things I know to help stimulate labor. The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes! So close!! But so weak, really. Over the next two hours, I paced and rolled on the birth ball and guzzled raspberry leaf tea. It seemed like if I sat down, things totally stopped so I stayed on my feet to keep it going. I put on my “energy” labor soundtrack and my daughter and I danced our way through contractions. After a while I realized they were taking a little more focus to relax through, and I needed Danielle to apply pressure to my sacrum to stay comfortable. It occurred to me — this is it! That was around 5. Danielle sent a text to Jeff letting him know that he should head home. (Right at quittin’ time anyways, how convenient!)

Fifteen minutes later, Jeff called to say he was on his way. I was like “What? You should be home by now!” because things were starting to get more intense. Not painful, I just knew already that I was going to go fast so I wanted him there soon. He did get home quick, and as soon as he did he began gathering the last bit of packing for the hospital. We were all really happy and excited and it seemed almost like a party, with the music snacks and the light atmosphere. Jeff called his sister Gena to come over, because she was the one who would take care of Eleanor while we were at the hospital. I told Jeff to call the midwife to let her know we’d be heading to the hospital sometime that night … and about 5 minutes later I told him to call her back and tell her we were heading there NOW and to get Gena over here NOW too. He was like “Really!?” and I was like “Yeah, think so!” it was surprising because it just happened so quickly — but I knew then that we were having a baby very soon and I wanted to get to the hospital. Contractions were still very manageable but it took more focus than I could give it at home with all the distractions. I spent most of them on my hands and knees, hanging my head and sagging my belly and getting my lower back rubbed by Danielle or Jeff. They were still really frequent and I wondered if I was further along than I felt.

Gena seemed to get to our house immediately and then Jeff and Danielle started loading up the car. I spent a moment with Eleanor and gave Gena a few last minute instructions. Jeff had to look for the keys for a while…Then we were off!

We called both our parents in the car, but had to get off the phone quickly. I was still contracting and it was not so easy to manage them in the car. I sat in the passenger seat turned around backwards, leaning on the headrest. The sensations were strong but I welcomed them, and in between Jeff and I spent a few moments just being quiet and excited and feeling really positive about what we were about to experience. It was about 7:15 when we got to the hospital. The nurse said “you look way too happy to be so far along!” and I said “I’m really happy to be here right now!” because getting out of the car had been such a relief, and I didn’t have to think about transferring any more. My midwife was there and it was so good to see a familiar face. She got the nurses to let us skip triage because of how far I’d been dilated that morning. Yet another relief — I got to go straight to my room!

The nurses started to go through the standard procedures — put on this gown, get ready for your IV, etc so I got to give them the quickest possible rundown of our birth plan — that I’d like to avoid all interventions if possible. And please let me get in the tub!! Missy checked me and told me I was 7 centimeters, so I was definitely, definitely having a baby soon. We still had to complete the initial 20 minute strip on the fetal monitor though. The belt was strapped around my belly but since I was moving around to manage contractions, June kept moving too, and her heart rate would get muffled or lost in the process, causing the 20 minutes to have to be started over. My midwife solved the problem by holding the monitor on with her hands so she could move around with me and get it repositioned immediately should we lose June’s heart rate. We wound up kind of slow dancing, me leaning on her and she holding the monitor to my belly, with Jeff behind me applying sacral pressure. It was a three-person slow dance to the “calm” birth soundtrack that Jeff had put on. Very relaxing.

Monitoring seemed to take forever, and suddenly I really needed to lay down, or MOVE, or something. I got a little panicky and leaned on Jeff, telling him I wanted to run away, that I wanted to be done already. It seemed too soon for me to be going through transition, but that’s exactly what was happening — I started shaking and vomiting — but really in between I felt ok, and even had a sense of humor about it. “Hello, carrots! Fancy meeting you here…” All the adrenaline was working its way to June though, and her heart rate became elevated beyond what the medical staff was comfortable with. As I rested between contractions, I asked what was taking so long, and my midwife explained that if we couldn’t get June’s heart to settle down, that it would become important to deliver her quickly; that the elevated rate was a sign that she may be in distress. She mentioned breaking my water and Jeff kinda gave her the death stare, like “No way, no how” because he knew from my last birth that once the bag broke it Got Real.

Just then, a summery, sexy samba floated through the air and I kinda got tickled because with the sunset over the intercostal waterway and music it seemed like we should be having a romantic dinner or something. Jeff leaned down and gave me a very unexpected, very demonstrative kiss and Bam, June’s heart rate dropped into the normal zone for 10 seconds or so. The midwife noticed and said “Hey, that’s great! Keep going!” so he did, we kissed for 10 or 15 minutes and watched June become more relaxed (and me, too) until we had a good, solid monitor strip showing that she was not in distress and handling labor well. It was like magic. And then I FINALLY got to get in the tub.

As I laid down in the water, relief washed over me and I said “Thank you God!” and Jeff said a prayer for our family. At this point in Eleanor’s labor, I was super relaxed and kinda out of it, but this time, I was much more In the Moment and wasn’t trying to escape or anything. I wasn’t as relaxed and was therefore experiencing stronger sensations — because I was more focused on bringing the baby out. When I contracted, I would say “Yes” or “Open Open Open” and “Come, baby” and visualize my body opening and her moving down.  Jeff read visualizations that had to do with melting, and every time he said “surrender” or “melt” I would feel SO relaxed and ready and open, all the pain would melt into only feeling closer and closer to meeting my baby. Things started to space out here and it seemed like, although my contractions were getting stronger and stronger, that they were slowing down. Jeff said quietly “I think she’s just going to take longer than Eleanor, but that’s ok, there’s nothing wrong with that” and it made me feel good to know that he was in for the long haul. Simultaneously though, I started having a pushy feeling and I was thinking she was going to be here really soon! I started feeling my hips spread open and wondered how close she was.

I told Missy I was feeling a little bit like pushing and she suggested I stay in the tub until I really felt it. A couple more contractions and I was pushing in the water, couldn’t help it. Then POP went my water, just like with Eleanor, right as I was starting to push. My eyes were closed so I just said “That’s it, my water broke — is it clear???” I was almost afraid to look. Then I did open my eyes and see that it was clear, and there wasn’t a cord prolapse, and all those last minute worries finally dissipated. I realized we really were going to have a healthy baby VERY soon and I felt my whole body relax. I said “Praise the Lord!!!” and got out of the tub. Put on my gown and got on the bed, I was on my knees and leaning against the back part of the bed which was raised. Right then I had a hard core pushing contraction and started vocalizing in grunts and roars. My midwife checked me and only said “You’re doing great, just do what your body tells you to do” and the nurse asked if I was complete and she barely murmured “oh, yeah, she’s ready” which made me feel so good that Missy was so totally confident in me that she felt no need to alert the presses that I was “ready.”

Missy knew I had experienced a pretty bad tear with my first and we’d talked about ways to avoid that this time. She had set the bed up special for me, I laid on my side and a lower part of the bed dropped down a few inches to give my hips room to spread. Jeff held my other leg high in the air and it really felt like my affirmation said “there is a wide open path for my baby to descend, there is nothing in the way.” My contractions had spaced out and I was feeling really good in between them.  The pain was over and I felt only power and surrender, and in a couple of pushes I could feel that she was very close. Missy told me to reach down and feel her head and that was the BEST feeling, just knowing how close I was to meeting her and accomplishing this huge feat. I just kept my hand on her head and relaxed, and smiled and Jeff and said “this is Easy! She’s almost here!!”

Missy told me to relax through the pushy feeling and just ease her down with my breath. She told me there was no rush and June would be here soon; then I felt the Ring of Fire (which I never felt with Eleanor, didn’t stretch with her — just tore!) and in another second her head was out. Jeff said “I can see her face, she’s beautiful!” then Missy worked with her shoulder for a second which seemed to be a little stuck, then said to me “Reach down and pull out your baby!” which I did, and it was the most exhilarating moment of my life … and June was born at 9:13 pm. I pulled her to my side and listened to her loud cry, felt her tiny body against mine, and laughed and cried with complete joy. After only two hours of hard work, I had a brand new Love of My Life. I am blessed beyond belief. My perfect birth.

The nurses didn’t take her to measure for a few hours, I had the entire time to hold her. With Eleanor, I had to be stitched up for a while and had to watch (agonizingly!) as Jeff held our baby. This time I wouldn’t let her go except for a couple minutes so Jeff could meet her.

Amazingly, I only needed two stitches; and was able to walk myself out of the room to the wheelchair in the hall. I felt SO GOOD, a smile a mile wide plastered on my face. It was a totally amazing experience from beginning to end, and I imagine myself back there every day just to keep the memories clear. I look at June and I’m so proud of what we did together; and marvel at how our bodies were so connected that my emotion could control her heart beat. Birth really is an everyday miracle.