Even before I knew I wanted to have children I loved to hear women’s birth stories. The journey to meeting that little being who was inside you for 9 months is so amazing. Now I am able to share my own story.

On Thursday at around 230 am I woke up feeling a little crampy, nothing too uncomfortable but I knew that this was different than anything I had felt before. I was able to get back to sleep and woke up later that morning with some mild cramping. My parents had come into town a few day prior and we spent the morning running errands and getting lunch. by 2pm I was certain that this was the real deal. I was in pre-labor, so still able to do stuff around that house and spend time with my parents. by 4pm things were starting to progress and I craved to be alone in our dark bedroom. My parents headed out to their hotel shortly after Joe got home. He was at work and I had told him that morning to not go far into the field, some of his work sites are a two hour drive away. Once my parents left it was as if my body knew it was time to get things moving. From 7 pm onwards my contractions were very intense. I alternated from laboring in the shower and my exercise ball. I was surprised because I always thought you got breaks between contractions but from the time mine started they were never less that 2 minutes apart. Joe called our Doula and she coached us on the phone thinking she would have plenty of time to make it to the house. By 11pm the contractions were even closer and I was starting to have alot of pressure. After talking to our Doula we decided to make the move to the hospitable and have her meet us there. On the walk from the parking lot to the birthing center I had three contractions. Its amazing how your body takes over and at least in my case it knew exactly how it wanted to labor, which was standing up holding onto Joe. When we first got to the hospitable  I was at 4cm, less than two hours later the nurses checked and I was at 8cm. Once I knew that I was almost there I had a second wind and knew that I would make it. I did have them break my water to speed things along at this point. When they did they found that Emma had already pooped and because of this they would have to have the NICU team in the room just to be sure that she was ok.  A few hours later after some creative positioning and coaching from our doula I was finally ready to push. I felt like pushing went really fast but Joe assured me it took longer than the 10 minutes it felt to be. Emma being the active little baby she is would rotate and squirm between my pushes, Joe joked I better push her out before she climbs out! Finally at 526am after one last push she slide out and the mid wife placed her little poop covered body on my chest. At 7lbs 7oz she was absolutely perfect. Having her placed on my chest was without a doubt the most incredible experience I have ever had. To have carried her for 9 months and suddenly she is in my arms, it was euphoria like I had never known.

Nothing could have prepared me for what birthing would be like. It hurts but the pain becomes a memory pretty fast. There was alot of blood and I felt like I was going to poop myself most of the time. It was the most painful experience of my life but also the most rewarding. For me labor was definitely type two fun, really hard when you are doing it but you look back and think, that was intense and awesome and I would do it again. But not too soon.

photos by our Doula, Lisa Skeels.