My mucous plug came out in the early hours of Tuesday, Dec. 20th. (Catchy opening line, eh?) I couldn't feel any contractions yet, so I went on to work that day. On Wednesday, I could feel something happening... but nothing too painful. Still, I decided not to go into work. I ate lunch out with my mom and in the afternoon, my dad and I went car shopping. Throughout the day, I could feel irregular, but more painful contractions. I went to my uncle's house for dinner with my mom-- oh, the looks I got when everyone heard I was possibly in labor! I'm sure they thought I should be in a hospital, not out and about. But I could walk and talk through it all still, so I saw no reason to be anywhere but where I wanted to be.
I went to bed that night around 10:00pm, feeling just fine. At 2:10am on Thursday morning, I woke up when my water broke, then fell back to sleep until 5:00am. An hour later, I knew I wasn't going to fall asleep anymore. I woke up Jeremy and we called my mom to have her come over. They both came with me to the Bradley classes I had taken about a month before, and read my favorite pregnancy books (by Ina May Gaskin), so I could count on at least one of them to remind me of the things we'd learned. Around noon, we went to my parent's house. Mom made (and fed) me scrambled eggs, so I'd have some energy. Drinking water throughout the entire labor helped keep my energy level up, too. My sister, Jenny, and her 20-month-old son, Merril drove in from Louisville to be there. Jenny has the same ideas about natural childbirth as me, so she was a great help.
A few hours later, the contractions were coming one on top of another, so I decided to go to my midwife's office to get checked. I was 2 centimeters dilated, but not discouraged. I knew not to rely on numbers-- things can happen fast! Since the hospital was right next door, I went ahead and checked in, so I could relax in the hot tub. The warm water was wonderful. I stayed in the hot tub for almost 3 hours, before I wanted to lay down again. My midwife, Nancy, offered me some apple juice to break the monotony of water, but every time I tried to drink it, I would dry heave. We stuck with water from that point on. I walked the halls some and laid on my side a lot. It was the most comfortable position to me.
A couple hours later, I was dilated to 6 centimeters. But I started feeling a very strong urge to push. "Urge" is an understatement! I focused on my breathing and tried to walk so that I wouldn't push too hard and possibly bruise my cervix. Nancy suggested I try to get on my hands and knees, so I did. This shift in gravity speeds things up in most cases, but I guess it sped thing up too much for me at that point, because that made the urge to push even stronger. I started pushing pretty hard, so Nancy gave me a half dose of a muscle relaxer to calm the urge. I tried walking again with the help of my mom and Jeremy.
After a couple more hours of labor, at 11:30, I was fully dilated, at +3 station and fully effaced. Nancy gave me the green light to push. It felt SO good to finally push with all my might; like finally scratching an itch I'd had all day!
So with Jeremy, my mom, Jenny, Karen (Jeremy's mom), 2 nurses, Nancy, and a running video camera, my perfect little boy, Nolan Emile (a.k.a. "Milo") was born at 11:56pm on December 22nd, 2005 weighing 9 lbs. 1 oz.!
I'm writing this 3 months after the birth, and Milo is still perfect to me and his dad. He smiles all the time, rarely cries, sleeps "through the night", and loves to read books already. There is nothing better than nursing him to sleep, cuddling all night with him, then waking up to his big, squealing grin. We chose not to circumcise Milo, although it wasn't even a choice to us- we didn't even have to think for a second on that one! We co-sleep and follow most of the attachment parenting principles. I had thought about all these things while I was pregnant, but once he was born, they were instinctual. I can't imagine not sleeping with him, breastfeeding him, carrying him wherever I go, etc... And I do believe he's a happier little guy because of it. He doesn't have to scream at the top of his lungs to wake me up in another room, or cry while I fix a bottle, or get fussy when I put him down, because I rarely do! I'm not saying I do everything perfectly, but no one can accuse me of not trying!
I'm very lucky that I have supportive friends and co-workers, access to tons of great books (especially anything by Ina May Gaskin), a wide assortment of classes and workshops available to me, a sister that thinks openly and shares her experiences, a mom who was willing to re-learn about childbirth and embrace it, a dad and brother who don't think like cavemen, 'in-laws' who were so excited to become grandparents for the first time, a guy like Jeremy, who more than stood up to the responsibility of taking care of me and a baby, and most importantly, a healthy, perfect baby boy named Milo, who I have to get back to now! :-)