Henry's Birth Story, Part 1

Warning: I'm not going to gloss over all of the gross stuff. So read at your own risk.

My due date was June 14th. As soon as I hit the 37 week mark, I started hoping Henry would make his debut. Of course, I knew it was much more likely that he would arrive late - so I wasn't holding my breath. I just knew that I was huge, uncomfortable, and really ready to not be pregnant anymore. I was measuring a tiny bit ahead of schedule, but not by much. Plus, I was anxious to start maternity leave.

So... Last Thursday was a normal work day for me. I felt fine all day, just my usual pregnancy discomforts. I left work early for an appointment with my midwife. There were no indications that I would be having this baby anytime soon.

After my appointment, I ran errands. I stopped by Jiffy Lube, the daycare, and then I went and got a pedicure. When I got home, Jon was out running. That night, Jon and I made BBQ pizza for dinner and went to bed early since I hadn't been sleeping well because of my hips. We ended up sleeping in our guest room. I had hoped the firmer bed would help my hips feel better.

Around 2:00am I woke up to go to the bathroom for the 2nd or 3rd time that night. As I was crawling back into bed, my water broke. I wasn't sure if I had just wet my pants or if it was my water, but since I had just went pee, I figured it was amniotic fluid.

I rushed back into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't crazy. The water just kept coming out and I knew for sure at that point that it was really happening. I checked the water to make sure it was clear, put on a pad, put a towel in bed, and tried to fall back asleep.

Around 3:00am, I still hadn't fallen back to sleep, so I finally woke Jon to tell him what had happened. Once I convinced him that I wasn't about to give birth, seeing as how contractions still hadn't started, he insisted we read up on what happens when the bag of waters break. The books we grabbed all said the same thing... Contractions should start within a couple hours.

At that point, I convinced Jon to go back to bed. I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible, since I had no clue how long my labor would be. I went downstairs to send some emails and eat breakfast.

At 4:00am, my contractions started in full force. Right away the contractions were about 45 seconds long and 3-5 minutes apart. After about an hour of ignoring the contractions, I went and laid down in one of the labor positions Jon and I had practiced. Jon rubbed my back while I relaxed through each contraction. At 6:00am, I had Jon call the midwife. After only 2 hours of labor at home, I knew it was time to head to the birth center.