I woke at 4am with mild cramping, went to the restroom and then back to bed. When dh’s alarm went off for him to go to work at 5, I told him I was having contractions but it was still early and sent him to work. By 6:30 they were pretty strong and I called my sis to bring me into town (we were living an hour from the birth center) I got there about 9am, my midwife checked me and I was only 3ish cm. She sent me out to go walk and get food, dh and I decided to get a hotel room so I could try to rest.

We went back at 3pm and was still only 3cm, she sent me out again. Back to the hotel room where I was in and out of the shower, sitting on the toilet, moaning pretty strongly.

At 7pm Kris thought we should head back over there, she checked me again and I was still only 3cm. She had planned on sending me out again but thought I should try getting in the tub for some pain relief (7:30pm). Within 5 min of getting in, my water broke and I was an instant 5cm.

I relaxed in the tub and almost fell asleep between contractions, I was really focused on relaxing and feeling the baby move down. At 8:30 my body started pushing by itself and my midwife was shocked to see I was ready and he was coming, I pushed for maybe 20 min and delivered my big beautiful boy myself. I went from 3cm to delivering in 1hr 50 min!!! Man I loved that tub!

After the birth things got a little dicey, I lost a lot of blood. My midwife and her nurse assistant were grinding on my uterus and I had 11 shots of pit before they could get me to stop bleeding. There was an ambulance on stand by just in case they couldn’t get it stopped asap. I had no idea at the time it was so serious, they were perfectly calm and collected and I was none the wiser.

It was my perfect birth.

Richelle