The only commonalities between the two births I’ve been through so far have been that A) they both are boys and B) they both started at 3AM.

I awoke at approximately 3AM on December 20th because when I rolled over in bed I felt a bit of wetness as if I had peed my pants. I decided I’d better get up to see what’s going on and when I did a big gush of water filled my pants. The water was clear and odorless and I awoke my husband to let him know that labor had started. We contacted our doula and doctor to let them know what had occurred and then went back to bed to try to rest.

Contractions did not start right away, it took approximately 45 minutes for them to kick in and when they did they were very strong. I spent the first few hours having bowel movements with every contraction and therefore couldn’t lie down and relax through them. Instead in between contractions I stood in the bathroom bent over the sink cabinet rocking my hips to soothe myself.

My contractions were so intense that I was working very hard to stay relaxed through them. I felt as if I was in transition most of this labor because of the physical signs I was exhibiting like shaking, being hot then cold and vomiting.

When my doula/home birth midwife arrived at 6:30AM she checked me and I was already dilated to 6cm. We decided to call the birth center to let them know we’re on our way and prepared the car for departure. The car ride was ok, I prayed the whole time that God would give me easy contractions for the car ride and thankfully He did!

We arrived at the Alternative Birth Center at Providence at 7:30AM and they didn’t have a room ready for me so I had to wait in the hallway while they cleaned my room (coincidentally the same room I gave birth to Adam in). They gave me the option to wait in a traditional labor & delivery room but I declined. Later we discovered that the L&D nurses were upset at the ABC nurse for not forcing me to go into one of their rooms, basically because they could’ve made money on my checking into one of their rooms. I’m so glad I had the patience to wait in the hallway!

I labored for about an hour and a half more trying to find a comfortable position but I stayed bent over the edge of the bed just as I was in the bathroom at home. By 9:00AM I was dilated to 9.5 cm. When it came time to push everyone was trying to help me get into a comfortable and safe pushing position (because standing beside the bed and pushing a baby out onto the floor isn’t ideally safe). I tried leaning over the exercise ball on the bed, side lying, and classic but none of those felt good. I ended up flipping mid-contraction from classic to hands and knees on the bed using a pile of pillows to rest on between contractions. While pushing the contractions were still very hard and painful down low in my pelvis so it didn’t feel good to work with my body but I still knew I needed to get this baby out. At one point I could actually feel the baby turning in my pelvis, which was a very odd sensation! I pushed for a total of about 20 minutes. When the head came out I was ready to wait for the next contraction to get his body out but the doctor insisted I keep pushing so I did, but with lots of yelling. Because of this I ended up with a second degree tear, I still don’t know why he made me continue to push.