Well, after wondering just when real labour would start and the Little Mister would arrive, we found out early this morning. At around 11:30 last night my contractions were strong enough to keep me from sleeping, and about 3 minutes apart. I got into the tub to do the “bath test” (the midwives have found that if after a bath the contractions feel better, a woman probably isn’t in active labour yet. If they’re worse, it’s active labour). The contractions got worse, and I decided to call my midwife to give her a heads up. She arrived around 12:30am.

I was still able to walk around and talk for a while, but after about an hour, the pain was really starting to get to me. My midwife broke my water to speed things up, which made the contractions more intense. They were in my back (and my butt) and it was all that I could do to concentrate and just breathe through it all. Hubby heated up a magic bag for my back, and I sat against a big pillow for a bit. Finally, I just had to go to bed. I wanted to rest. I was tired. No such luck.

Laying down made the contractions worse, and it wasn’t long before I felt the urge to push. I had no idea what to expect, actually. It was very intense. The second midwife hadn’t arrived yet, and the one who was here was trying to coach me not to push. That’s like telling someone who is extremely nauseous not to throw up. It can be done, but it’s incredibly hard.

After stalling for a couple of contractions, I couldn’t hold back any more. The pushing, while it hurt, actually felt good. It took the focus off of my back, and the rest in between was heaven. According to the midwife records, I pushed for a grand total of 6 minutes before the Little Mister arrived, hand on his head. What a relief it was to have all of the contractions stop! That was at 3:21. Basically 3 hours of real labour.

I was a space cadet for a little bit afterwards. I just lay on the the bed and let the midwives do whatever they needed to do to our son and I. Within a few minutes of his birth, the second midwife arrived, and they began to clean us up and assess us. I lost very little blood and didn’t tear. The Little Mister’s apgar numbers were both nines. He was placed on me, and we just sort of zoned out together for a bit.

He weighed in at 8lbs even, and 21 1/2 inches long.  His birth was a wonderful experience.  I thought it was really fast.  His sister decided to redefine that for me…

Mama B