Vera Love's Birthday

      I will start this by saying labor and birth far exceeded my expectations in many ways. First of all, I think I had it easy.  Throughout my pregnancy I experienced light contractions that woke me up at night signaling me that I needed to empty my bladder. On this particular night, January 16th, I noticed that I had been up to pee four times in an hour... I thought that was peculiar, however tried to continue sleeping. By 4:30AM my contractions were light and coming every 5-7 minutes. It wasn't until 6 AM that I that I woke Nic up, thinking this could be labor since my contractions were now every 3-5minutes.
     Since I was only 38 weeks pregnant and a first time mother, I just could not believe it! I was in denial, I kept saying "no way, I can't really be in labor" or "no way, this is too easy, I must just be confused" or "maybe I have the stomach flu".  As a midwife I knew the signs were showing that I was in active labor, however I just kept thinking it wasn't real labor because I felt too good.
      We called Shine and Katy, our midwives, to let them know this could be the day and we needed to get a birth tub set up. Topaz came over to hang out with me while Nic drove across town to pick up the tub. Nic was definitely my comfort during labor because as soon as he left my contractions sped up to 2-3 minutes apart.  I was nervous at this point because based on the timing of my contractions my midwife mind knew the baby could be coming soon. Yet, I still felt great. Topaz and I continued to do little chores around the house. Once Nic came home and set up the tub I could relax knowing everything was ready. We sent Topaz home and enjoyed a few hours alone. One strange sensation that I recall about active labor was having very cold feet. We labored together for a while before *texting* (who does that?) the midwives that I was ready for them to come over.

     Around noon, just before the midwives arrived, I decided to get into the birth tub. I was a little embarrassed, thinking I was still in early labor, but it felt so heavenly I just could not resist! The midwives came over around noon, and when Katy checked me she told me I was 5 cm dilated. Just as my heart sank,  knowing most of the work was still ahead, Katy said "just kidding, your at 7!".  This was the meanest joke, however, at that moment I loved her for it. 

     After that, I moved into transition, the hardest part of labor. I remember Katy's icy hands on my lower back feeling so good, then suddenly nothing felt good. I was saying things like "yes, press harder", "wait, don't touch me", "air, I need air", and "Shut up, PLEASE!". As you can see Nic was busy fanning me and giving me bites of popsicles. Honestly this part of labor flew by; the part I remember the most is how awesome the breaks between contractions were and feeling like the tub was the best thing on earth.

     Shortly after that, I started feeling like pushing. This is when Nic got in. People always say that pushing feels good, however, I did not have that experience. I kept waiting for it to feel good, but I wouldn't quite describe it that way. It didn't feel bad, it's just that the breaks in between felt so amazing! I really didn't do anything during this part, my body did it all. It felt like she was coming so fast and more than once I asked her to slow down. No matter what I did to try slow this part down, nothing worked, I had no control of my body. Before I knew it, she was out! AT 2:09 she was born into Nic's arms and we lifted her up to my chest. Since my water never broke, she was born in her amniotic sac and to everyone's surprise she came out breech; butt first with her feet folded up by her head.

Here she is, Vera Love

We fell for her instantly

     I would say (besides the tub of course) the best part of having her born at home, was being able to crawl right into our own bed and snuggle up to our new baby.  This was the most amazing day of my life.