A big THANK YOU to Christine Cortes for allowing me to share her beautiful Hypnobabies birth story with you! I’ve read A LOT of birth stories and this is one of my favourites! I love how she transitioned from – WHY on earth would I want to give birth naturally when epidurals are available to take away the pain?! – to having a peaceful and COMFORTABLE waterbirth with Hypnobabies ❤

When I found out I was pregnant after a miscarriage, I couldn’t believe it. It had been 2 months since the loss and I was still devastated from it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I was in denial and went about with my life like nothing was happening. I finally went to get an ultrasound and found out that I was 9 weeks pregnant. I was filled with joy as soon as I saw our tiny baby on the screen in front of me and thanked God with all my heart.

Now I had heard of women giving birth naturally in this day and age, but I thought it was crazy. Why would someone want to go through so much pain when we have wonderful things like epidurals? My husband wanted me to have a natural birth with our first and I thought he was crazy out of his mind. I thought he was so mean. why would he want me to go through so much pain?! No way was I going to ever try a natural birth. So I had the typical hospital/epidural birth with our daughter. Had no desire whatsoever in a natural birth. That was for the brave crazy women. Or so I thought.

Fast forward a year later. I met a group of moms that shared the same parenting beliefs as me. Babywearing, and cloth diapering were some of the things we had in common. Then I found out that they birthed their children at home or at a birth center with no drugs! I was amazed. This is when I started hearing about hypnobabies. A 6 week class that mentally prepares you for childbirth. Focuses only on the positive things about childbirth and encourages you to believe that you can birth your child in comfort and joy. A lot of these women had pain free natural births. I thought this was impossible! I was taught that childbirth is the most excruciating pain that a woman will ever have. Then my best friend took the hypnobabies class and had a beautiful natural birth. She said she felt no pain. Only pressure and stretching and pulling. I was amazed! This is when I decided I would take the class for my next pregnancy.

The class taught me to change my entire view of childbirth. I had to believe with all my heart soul and mind that I could have a comfortable pain free natural birth, and that I would enjoy it. I had to erase everything I had ever been taught about how painful and horrible childbirth is and replace it with only positive thoughts. I learned to erase any and all fears I had about childbirth. I used the techniques I learned during that class and soon enough, I truly believed that I would have an amazing birth and that I deserved to birth in comfort and joy.

Nov 21st 2011. 40 weeks pregnant. I had been having pressure waves all day, but I didn’t pay attention to them. I went for a walk and noticed that I had to stop walking during a pressure wave and that they were getting stronger. So I started timing them. At first they were 9-10 mins apart lasting a min to 90 secs long. My husband was at school so at around 9pm I realized that maybe I might be in my birthing time and I decided to ask him to come home. He brought home some sonic hot dogs and I sat on my birthing ball and listened to my hypnobabies tracks. The pressure waves kept getting wonderfully stronger and soon I had to vocalize through them. I kept saying OHHHHHH OHHHHHHH. They weren’t painful. Just strong. They were now 6-7 mins apart. I called my doula and gave her a heads up and also called the birth center. The midwife on call didn’t really take me seriously because I sounded too calm over the phone. Which is a common response to women who use hypnobabies. We are way too relaxed and are not taken seriously when we are in our birthing time! Then she asked me if I’m in pain and I said no. so even more reason for her not to take me seriously!

I went to lay down and during a pressure wave, my water broke! It was an amazing feeling! Like an explosion! This is when I knew I really am in my birthing time! A little part of me started getting scared but I chose to remain focused on my positive birth. We got in the car for the 45 min drive to the birth center and I listened to my hypnobabies tracks to help me stay focused. I only focused on the pressure wave I was experiencing and did not dare think about the next one until it came. One at a time! When we got to the birth center, my doula was there and so was my mother in law and my sister in law. They took our daughter who was fast asleep. Now I had to face one of the things I was dreading. A cervical check. When I got this done with my daughter in the hospital it was excruciatingly painful. But I used the techniques I learned in hypnobabies and just completely relaxed all my muscles and it wasn’t painful at all! I was so happy to learn that I was 5-6 cm dilated! I had asked for an epidural with my daughter at 3cm. I was so proud of myself that I had survived that car ride!

So they took me upstairs and I paused for a pressure wave at the top of the stairs. This is when I started feeling pushy. With each pressure wave my body was beginning to push and my noises started sounding like pushy grunts. The midwife told me it was too early to push and that I needed to resist that urge. But it felt so good to give in to it! She told me I could make my cervix swell. So I tried really hard not to give into that pushy urge. They filled up the tub and I got in. the water was soooo warm and inviting! I held on to a bar on the wall and relaxed with each pressure wave. I was so sleepy! I just wanted to sleep and I would try to between pressure waves. They were coming so close now and getting more and more stronger! They were not painful. The only way I can describe them is a very strong powerful force taking over your body. I focused on the fact that each pressure wave was bringing me closer and closer to our son. I embraced each one! I didn’t listen to any hypnobabies tracks in the tub. I didn’t want anyone to touch me or talk to me. I was in my own world, listening to my body. I couldn’t resist the urge to push anymore and I gave in. it really felt so good to just give in to that urge. Then I felt stretching! I reached down and felt the top of Raphael’s head and asked the midwife to check me!! She checked and I was 10cm! I was ready to push after only being there an hour! Hubby quickly got in the tub with me and held me as I gave over to my body. I just relaxed and my body did the work for me. I didn’t push my baby out. My body pushed him out. With the next pressure wave I relaxed and that powerful urge came over me and I remember feeling a lot of stretching. Not painful. His head was out. And I relaxed and waited for the next pressure wave. And with the next one, I felt a lot more stretching and his body came out. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life! They took the cord off from around his neck and gave him to me! I couldn’t believe that I was holding my baby in my arms! I couldn’t believe that I had just had a natural pain free birth! I felt like I was dreaming! The first thing I said was “that is the easiest thing I have ever done!” I couldn’t believe how easy it was!! I wasn’t screaming or going crazy or crying like they show on tv. I was relaxed the whole time. My husband called for his mom as soon as Raphael was born and they came in with our daughter.

Raphael was born at 2:28am. Weighing 7lbs 4 oz and 19in long with no tears! They helped me out of the tub and I was surprised at how easy it was to just get up and walk like nothing happened! With my first, I felt like I had been ran over by a truck! My husband and daughter fell asleep in bed with us. The midwives left us alone for a few hours and we just got to enjoy our new bundle of joy. 8 hours later, we were ready to go home!

I am so glad I decided to have a waterbirth. The birth center was such a nice relaxing atmosphere. The midwives let me do what I wanted to do, and I was able to trust my body to birth my baby. Whenever we have another baby I am definitely doing another waterbirth! Hopefully we can have a homebirth next time! The thing that helped me the most was changing my mentality towards childbirth. Once that was changed, everything else fell into place and I was able to let go and trust my body to do what it was designed to do. Also, my faith as a Christian helped me a lot. I know my Creator designed me to give birth, and whatever I ask, He can give to me. So I told Him exactly how I wanted my birth to be, and he fulfilled it! I just had to have a little faith! So I am here to tell you that childbirth can be a fun, wonderful, comfortable, and relaxing experience! The whole time I felt like I had the power to choose what type of experience I wanted. The mind and what you speak into your life is a very powerful thing. I thoroughly enjoyed my birthing experience and can’t wait for the next time I get to do it again!

The most beautiful and amazing event of my life!

~ Christine

I titled this post with “Once Upon a Time” because my birthing story is nothing short of a fairy tale. It was an experience I wish all women could experience at least once in their lifetime and one that I feel should be shared loudly above all of the typical horror stories most people want to share with you while pregnant.

It seems like from the minute you find out you are pregnant there are so many options and decisions to make. And if you don’t really explore those options and educate yourself it is easy to get pulled into the “main stream” ways of doctors, epidurals and c-sections. I thought I was being very “holistic” with my first daughter when I chose a group of midwives over a doctor to help me deliver Kailey. I knew they would take a more natural approach and would not push unnecessary drugs on me. As a first time mom and not knowing what to expect I chose to deliver in a hospital “just in case” I needed any emergency medical attention. My overall experience was a good one. I did choose to get an epidural after my old back injury had kept my body from relaxing enough to let my baby through after trying every other available method.

Because I knew from my previous experience that my back was a problem, when I found out I was pregnant again I looked into water births. I felt like if I could keep my back relaxed I might be able to have a natural labor the second time around. I found Best Start Birth Center in San Diego and was happy to see that I had recognized many of the midwives from the group that helped me with my first pregnancy. My whole experience there for my prenatal care was great. The midwives are so compassionate and really treat you like a friend with care and love.

In addition to my prenatal care I also spent a lot of time reading “Spiritual Midwifery” by Ina May. I really felt a very strong connection to this book and the beautiful stories within it. I loved how beautiful labor was portrayed through these women telling their stories and how peaceful they sounded. The orgasmic stories were so different than the typical birthing stories you normally hear and I wanted so badly to put myself their mentally to have the same type of experience. But sometimes as I would read and think back to my previous birth story and how painful the contractions were I would ask myself, “Is this book too “hippie” for me? Would I really be able to have this kind of enjoyable labor experience?” A few phrases of the book really stuck in my mind and I knew they would be terrific tools to help me when coping in labor. The first being that Ina May chose to call contractions “rushes” because that’s what they actually are “rushes of downward energy that require 100% of your attention.” I love this! I loved how the women spoke of “riding the rushes” and in some cases would even get high with their spouses off the energy that the rushes would bring. A good friend of mine, whom is also a doula, said to me to just breathe through the rushes as if riding a wave in the ocean and know that the climax is only abut a minute and then you get to rest. “You can do ANYTHING for only one minute.” She also shared a birthing chant with me that says “My body is a piece of hollow bamboo, open up and let my baby through.” It sounded silly to me at the time but became very useful for me during labor because it has such a strong visual effect for me. So with all of these tools I had mentally prepared myself for a calm and peaceful labor.

On August 26th I woke up with period-like symptoms and thought to myself, “I don’t think she’s coming today but this is definitely the beginning.” Throughout the morning the dull aching cramp pain turned into light contractions. I started timing them at 6-7 minutes apart. I decided to go along with my plans of taking Kailey to ride her bike and go to the beach. I figured walking would be good, followed by a day of sitting outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. I had decided then I was not going to tell anyone I was having contractions because I didn’t want anyone to add any anxious energy to me. My two best friends joined me during the day and my contractions were getting stronger. I did end up telling them and we even made a game out of timing the contractions. Towards the end of the day I called my husband and told him to meet us for dinner. He came and we joined some friends for a nice Mexican dinner. My contractions were getting strong enough to where I would mentally leave dinner conversation to go within and breathe. I figured it was good practice for what was to come.

Later that night I woke up to my contractions stronger and closer together than earlier that day. I thought “OK it’s time.” And it wasn’t until that moment that I made the conscious decision that I wanted to labor by myself until the very last minute. I felt like if I told my husband or mom that I was in labor they would make me go to the birthing center sooner than I wanted to and would add anxious energy to the process. I was so happy that it was the middle of the night and that I could labor in my bed in complete darkness. I turned on some meditation music and got comfy in my bed with pillows all around me. I would breathe through my contractions and would gently drift off to sleep in between. I found it very helpful to repeat the birthing chant to myself with my breaths and would visualize my body opening up and baby moving downward. I concentrated so much on transferring the pain into helpful energy opening my body to help bring my baby into the world instead of fighting it. It was great! Before I knew it it was 3am, I thought “OK I want to try and last in my bed until 5am so that I am not so tired getting up in the middle of the night.” At 5am I thought “well, I’ve lasted this long, I m going to try and make it until 7am so that I can say good morning to Kailey and let her know what is going on.” Soon enough it was 7am, I had lasted the whole night laboring alone in the peaceful darkness of my room. My contractions were stronger than ever and about 4-5 mins apart. I awoke my husband and told him that if he wanted to shower it was about time to go. I went downstairs and told my mom the same thing. She jumped up and started exclaiming “What?! Now?! Really?! What can I do for you?!” I simply said, “Mom, the biggest thing you can do for me right now is to stay calm. I have been laboring all night in the most peaceful state of mind and I really want to maintain that.” She understood and went to take a shower to leave me be. Kailey woke up and I made her french toast for breakfast and spent time loving on her and letting her know that I was going to leave her with her Mamma (Grandma) and would be bringing her baby sister home to her soon. She had been such a big part of the pregnancy that at 3 ½ years old, she really understood. She looked at me with such excitement behind her eyes and said “I didn’t even know she was coming today!”

We arrived to the birthing center at about 10am. The midwife there that day was Ashley. I had a really great connection with Ashley and was glad to know she would be the one delivering my baby. She was busy upstairs delivering another baby when we got there so the midwife assistant/nurse Amy came in to help us get our room, fill the bathtub and take my vitals. I decided to get in the bath right away and was so relieved that I did. The minute I submersed myself in the water all of my pain disappeared. It was amazing! I had thought the water would help in the way that a jacuzzi simply feels good but I had no idea that the warm water would actually eliminate my pain all together. When I would have a contraction it was about 10% of what it was out of the water and was very manageable to breathe through. In between my contractions I was in a complete stage of euphoria. I felt my body flying and tingling with great energy. I was in a state of complete bliss and felt like I could both get up and dance or fall peacefully to sleep. It was great! The sound of my reggae music in the background was even more helpful in setting the mood. Very soon thereafter I felt the urge to push. Right then Ashley walked in after delivering the baby upstairs. I told her I needed to push so she decided to finally check me. The baby’s head was ready to deliver so she told me to just keep doing what I was doing. It was a wonderful experience to have a labor coach allow you to listen to your own body and trust your instincts rather than try and take over. Within minutes the baby’s head was out. I felt a burning sensation more intense than I had ever felt but Ashley and the two nurses, Amy and Jessica, helped me to focus and breathe through it. Ashley coached and guided Julio to catch the baby and soon enough she was out and he handed her to me right away. I shook with adrenaline and cried the happiest of tears. There was nothing more powerful than feeling the whole process of birthing my own baby and getting to hold her in my arms as a reward to finalize the whole experience.

Little Lani Isabela was born at 12:42pm on August 27, 2011 and was perfectly healthy and absolutely beautiful. The next few hours at the birthing center were so amazing and were what really set the standards apart from what I had previously had in the hospital with my first birth. The midwife and the nurses helped me from the bathtub to the bed without ever taking my baby from me. They allowed two full hours of bonding time between my husband, the baby and I, with minimal disturbances. They were so sweet and gentle to Lani when they did take her to measure and weigh her. It was such a loving, holistic experience and I cannot say enough about the quality of care we received.

Six hours later we were home and Lani got to meet her big sister and the rest of the family. It was so nice to be home and get the chance to love on our little baby the way we wanted to in the comfort of our own home. Everyone was so thrilled to meet the new addition and so shocked to know that I had left only a few hours earlier to have her and was now home with a new bundle of joy in our arms.

Thank you Best Start and all the midwives that made this entire life-changing experience so wonderful. It was your care and compassion that made our experience so beautiful and I would recommend it to every woman in the world to experience this at least once in their lifetime. Little Lani is the happiest baby and I can’t help but to think it was the way she was brought into this world with so much love and ease that has so much to do with it. We are so completely in love!

I have always wanted to birth naturally. My first birth was in a hospital, and I ended up taking the epidural and regretting it immediately. When I found out I was pregnant again, I wanted to make sure I would be cared for by people that would do everything they could to give me the birth I wanted to have. I transferred to Best Start around 30ish weeks and immediately felt at home.

I had fairly intense contractions that would last for several hours over the last 3-4 weeks of my pregnancy, so when I woke up on my due date with contractions I was skeptical. I took a bath, ate some soup, watched a whole season of SNL, and finally my husband insisted it was time to call. I protested between contractions, but Dylan called and Ashley asked us to come in a few hours just to check me and promised she'd set me free if it wasn't time yet.

When we arrived with my mother in law and our 4 year old daughter, Marleigh, Ashley sent us on a walk to get bagels. I would walk until a contraction hit, then lean into my husband and moan right on the sidewalk. So many people on the street smiled at us, congratulated us- I felt like a traveling birth goddess. After bagels we walked back to the birth center to get checked and at 5 cm I decided to stay. I used the birth ball for a bit and that was heaven. It wasn't long before I was naked and oblivious, moaning in the tub. My water broke during one of my bathroom trips (on the toilet- how neat of me!) and I felt triumphant. I was doing it!

My husband was the best support to me- calm and strong and always right by my side. Ashley was amazing- I could not have asked for more from my midwife. She gave us the space we needed for Dylan to be my primary support, while also making me feel safe and watched over. I knew she was there with me, but she never took over anything Dylan could do for me. I felt pushy in the tub but felt it was too early, and it was. Ashley checked me and I wasn't complete. I had to blow instead of push. This was the the most intense part, where I told everyone I was going home and this was just too hard. Ashley, Dylan, and my birth assistant Jessica were all around the tub just talking me through it. When I transitioned I got weepy, shakey and silent and Jessica held my hand. She had the most wonderful look of compassion in her eyes that still makes me tear up.

My daughter would wander in and pet me while I was in the water, and when I got loud she went to my mother in law in the family room. I loved having my daughter there. I had a vision of my family becoming complete together- we knew this would be our last child and I wanted my first child to be as included as possible.

The baby's heart rate was going down during contractions (though I was in laborland and had no idea at the time) so I had to get out of the tub- which was fine with me because it turned out that I didn't want to push in the water like I had planned. I needed to be on dry land to get my bearings. At some point Susan came in to check on me, and she asked me how I was doing- which I thought was funny and it gave me some perspective in this moment where I felt like I was losing control- I am so glad she was there. Jessica had to leave and my second birth assistant came- Karly was fabulous. She's fun! She's funny! When you need to be stitched up or need help to pee, it helps to have people around you that you like so much you'd have a margarita with them.

We tried so many positions for pushing, and I was starting to get overwhelmed with how intense the pressure was in my bottom. Ashley had me get on the birth stool (which I had thought was my absolute last choice during our childbirth classes but LOVED using) and pushed my son out. I looked around me and my daughter was crying tears of joy, proclaiming "my brother is born!" over and over, and my mother in law crying, and my husband holding me- it was exactly the vision I had in my mind. My family was all together to welcome Emerson.

May 25, my due date and Emerson's birth date, happens to be his namesake Ralph Waldo Emerson's birth date as well. I think that's magical.

- with so much love-

Jessica, Dylan, Marleigh and Emerson

We arrived at the birth center at 3 am on February 18, 2011. I was 5cm dilated shortly after getting settled I sat on the birthing ball. It was so nice; I was able to rock my hips relaxing my back. Then lean into the bed while having a contraction. At about 4:30 am and being 6cm going on 7cm my midwife Janna treated me to the birthing tub. The warm water was such a treat. Contractions were easy to handle well in the warm water, and being able to feel light as air. You mostly hear about how bad contractions hurt, but your hardly hear about how wonderful it feels when the mussel release at the end. Bliss my 2 year old son woke up at 7am to join the fun I couldn't imagine welcoming our new member into our little family with out him. He was so sweet with his little hands rubbing my back. With Wyatt being at my birth, I had two people there to share shadowing him. My sister Melinda, and me best friend Heather H. (I didn't want my husband Ryan to be over loaded). Speaking of Ryan he did such an awesome job being there for me. My loves warm embrace was a powerful pain relief. At about 8am my body was getting ready to start pushing. With the contractions being really strong, it was my team whom got me through it. With their positive praise on my way to the birthing chair my water broke, and Whitney was ready to come. It was hard contractions how Whitney crowned about 3-4 times. Thanks to midwife Janna and Susan helping me through this, I feel like I would have been lost. They were positive yet firm on telling me that I could do it. While it seemed like a long time, I gave birth to my baby girl Whitney Jean at 9:10 am. I never did make it to the birthing chair. My labor was a total of 16 hours long, compared to my first birth at a hospital being 9 hours. My birth at Best Start Birth Center was almost painless. I had tons of fun while being in labor. I believe, that thanks to an awesome team, atmosphere, and knowing having a natural birth was best for me, my baby and my rights, I was able to have my dream birth.

This was my second delivery, with my first daughter I had complications from mild pre-eclampsia I was induced and stuck to a bed. I am thankful my daughter (Abigail) and I are both healthy but I wanted a second chance at a natural birth. Best Start gave me that chance and I will always be grateful! This pregnancy was normal I started with an OB, hoping that I could just use a doula and not push it with our insurance. I soon realized that was not going to be the " natural option" My OB was always trying to push procedure on me and never took the time to allow me to ask any questions about her philosophies that made me decide to try Best Start. Since my pregnancy progressed normally I was able to deliver here. I went into labor January 2, 2011 after several hours at home I was hoping to be getting somewhere, so I called the midwife. She had me come in for a check and found that my baby was posterior. We could not even tell if I was dilating. I went home ready to work and turn my baby around. 12 hours later I made my second call to the midwife. She had me come in and my fear was I would be sent home again. Those fears were re-leaned when my water broke in the parking lot. Then I was told I was 7cm! 1 1/2 hours later my second baby girl was born, Haddassah Lynn at 9:23 pm January 3 a total of 25 hour labor! Susan, Janna, & Felicity were wonderful through the whole process! My birth would not have been such a success without them. Thank you Best Start, for a second chance!

On Monday afternoon (the 15th) I went in for my doctor's appointment since I was 1 week 3 days overdue. We did all of the stress tests on the baby to see how he was doing in there and they said he was doing just great and not sure why he didn't want to come out! But regardless, we were essentially given a 72 hour countdown at the Birth Center before we would get sent over to the hospital to be induced. “Time to get this baby to come out" they said! I was dilated about 1-2 cm, the midwife scraped my membrane, looked at Eric and said" I did what I could to help her out, you know what you have to do to help her out", and also suggested Castor Oil and Acupuncture before sending us on our way. That evening I did feel like I was pretty sure I was having a couple of contractions, but they would maybe only happen 15-20 minutes...
I woke up Tuesday morning (the 16th) and didn't really feel like I was having contractions, but Eric and I decided we were gunna get this baby out of me! Eric “did his job", then we went on a long walk (taking any stairs we came across), and came back home to make a good hearty breakfast. After breakfast (11 a.m.) I took my 1st 2oz dose of Castor Oil mixed with juice. Then I called and left a message with the recommended acupuncturist to see how soon they could see me. At about noon, they called me back and said that they had a cancellation so they could see me at 3 p.m. I said “I’ll be there". At about 12:30 pm, I pulled out the breast pump to give “nipple stimulation" a go. Five minutes on the pump and I exclaimed to Eric "I think my water just broke"! He turned around, I stood up, Eric looked at me, got a big grin across his face and said" Good job babe"!
We called the midwife, who was very excited for us, but reminded us that " since my water had broke, we had a 24 hour window to get him out before I would need to go to the hospital" so " best to keep doing everything we can to keep the ball rolling". She said that if I thought I could stomach it at all to go ahead and still take the 2nd dose of Castor Oil, and to start watching my contractions and give her a call in a couple hours, or when my contractions were at 4-1-1. I got into the shower and Eric went and pulled up the contraction master website we had found to help catalog my contractions (such a great idea, Google it). I told him that if he thought he could at all, I thought he should go and try to take a nap, which he did. I spent the next couple hours, watching T.V. and logging my contractions, doing the dishes, cleaning up the house a bit, call the acupuncturist to cancel my appointment, and posting my pregnancy photos on Facebook :)
Eric woke up around 4 p.m. and my contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds, on average. So, we called my Doula Lori, and told her that “the show seemed to be on so go ahead and head our way"! Lori and Andrew arrived at my house around 7:30 pm and my contractions were definitely getting stronger, coming very regularly about every 3-4 minutes and lasting for a full minute, so by 8:30 p.m. we were all loaded up in the car and on our way down to the Birth Center to meet Ashley, our midwife.
Best Start Birth Center is located in an old Victorian home in the Hillcrest area of San Diego, and we had the whole house to ourselves for our special event! They got me upstairs to " the penthouse room" and everyone else got settled in with our stuff in " the family room" Ashley examined me, determined I was 4- 4 1/2 centimeters dilated, and that my water had in fact NOT broke ( it must have been my mucus plug. She said that was actually a good thing because we did not have a 24 hour deadline, and she seemed very happy that my labor was progressing well. Both mommy and baby's vitals were great we spent the next couple hours having me “dance" about the house staying active and moving as much as I could. Around midnight, my water actually did break. I had gotten stick to my stomach, I was really struggling to eat or drink anything after that; we had been trying several different positions, but I was really feeling quite uncomfortable and asked if there was anyway I could hang out in the shower for awhile- Ashley thought that sounded like a great idea. There I got to sit, stand, lean however I wanted with nice warm water relaxing my body- I felt so blessed to have so many options and feelings of control over “how to get myself through this"- it really gave me such a sense of confidence!
Around 2 a.m. came a pretty dark period for me. The labor was very intense, I couldn’t get comfortable anywhere, Ashley examined me a couple times and hadn't really given me any tangible feedback- I just knew I wasn't progressing very much. I had been doing this for over 12 hours and was starting to feel very alone and desperate. When having me, my mother was 2 weeks overdue, and went through 40 hours of labor that eventually resulted in a c-section. Fears of that being my experience really started creeping up on me. Right then my sister April, showed up! She had gotten in her car and driven down from Oakland, CA. When she asked me how I was doing, I told her that I was really lacking confidence, and asked if she could go find Ashley. She came in and confirmed that I had not really dilated further, and let me know if there was no further progression in the next couple of hours, a transfer to the hospital may be something we would need to discuss. I told her my mom's story, and confessed my fears to her, and saw her face starts to perk up. She said she was so glad I expressed that, that she really didn't believe that was my story or something I needed to worry about; but that if I was holding on to that fear, it could be something that was preventing my labor from progressing. Everyone gave me a big pep talk and she suggested that it was time for the birthing tub. She urged everyone else to go lay down for a bit, drew the bath, and got April and I set up in there. She said she would come back and check in on us in a couple hours. She told me to relax, use low loud moans to connect to my belly- and I sure felt bad for everyone else who was trying to rest; but with my sister by my side, we committed to "doing the work"
About 2 hours later, things really started getting intense. I called Ashley and told her I was really starting to feel a lot of pressure, and the urge to push. She said that was great progress, but since my water had already broken, and it had only been 2 hours, she still wanted to wait another 45 minutes before examining me again. Eric had woken up about that time, and I was so grateful to have more help. I was getting tired and those next 45 minutes went by sooo slowly!
When Ashley finally did check on me, her eyes lit up and a huge grin crept across her face. She said she was so proud of me- I was fully dilated and she could feel the baby's head-time to push! I had almost made it :)
April got out the video camera to film the event for us, and after 1 1/2 hours of hard pushing, I was asked to reach down into the water and pull my baby out of my body and into my arms. It was the most beautiful experience I have ever had; and it brings me to tears to my eyes just thinking about looking up into Eric, April, Lori and Ashley's glowing, weeping faces smiling back at me for what we had just accomplished. At 6:56 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 9 oz measuring 20 1/2 in length, Preston Indi Jones Cohen made his grand entrance! Eventually, everyone helped us get moved to the bed, Eric got to cut the umbilical cord, and we had a perfect, beautiful, healthy son to debut to the world! We were all back home safe and sound by 1 p.m. that same afternoon. A new family had been created; and to me, that truly is a miracle :)
We just want to thank everyone who has shared this experience with us, and also thank you to everyone who stopped by and has sent well wishes our way. I feel very confident that everything happened just the way it needed to. I am so happy with the decisions that Eric and I made for how we wanted our son to enter this world, and so accomplished that our desires manifested into a reality. I cannot believe that was only 24 hours of our life; and going through it had instilled in me a level of confidence that I can accomplish anything I want to be in life- I don't expect those feelings to fade soon. Every time I look down at our little guy, I get affirmation for how lucky I am, what a blessing life is, and very sincere enthusiasm for what life is going to bring my way next !
Mommy and Daddy are so proud to bring you into a world that has surrounded us with so much love- we can't wait to see what you make of it little man :)

As my guess date loomed I was beginning to think that my body was not preparing for the big event. I know every pregnancy is different, but I felt as though my body really hadn’t given me any signs- not a ton of Braxton Hicks, didn’t lose my mucus plug…I felt oddly, normal.

When I woke up on 10/10/10, I thought, well, it’s here. The day has come…I wonder how much longer I’ll be pregnant? I was picturing going to 41.6 weeks, and tried to remind myself that my baby would come when he was ready. I crawled out of bed, and my fiancé and I decided to go out for breakfast.

At around 10 that morning, I noticed that I began having some Braxton Hicks but this time, they were accompanied with slight cramping. I thought it was odd; I hadn’t experienced that sensation before. I decided not to think too much of it and tried to distract myself with TV.

At around noon the cramping and BH (still didn’t want to really think they were contractions) continued, and I noticed that they seemed to be occurring every 15 minutes and lasting for about 30 seconds. I told my fiancé and he told me to just take it easy and we’ll see what happens.

At 3 PM they were coming every 10 minutes and lasting about 35 seconds or so. I told my fiancé to start timing them and he wrote them down to see if a pattern was developing.

This went on all day until about 10:30 PM that night where they were occurring every 6-8 minutes and lasting 45 seconds. I finally said, “OK, well, this is it. We’re meeting our son soon!” My fiancé was nervous, but so excited. I told him, “Well, I guess we should stay up, what else can do?” So we did just that.

At 1 AM my contractions were noticeably stronger, I was beginning to moan when they were occurring. I decided to call my midwife and tell her I thought it was time. She told me to try to go to bed, and plan to meet her at the Birth Center at 4 am but to call her back if I couldn’t wait that long.

Well, 4 AM came, I put on my Hypnobabies tracks and tried my very best to relax…it must have looked funny, me with my headphones on moaning loudly and my fiancé with no doubt, a look of panic on his face.

We got to the birth center 8 minutes later and Ashley (my midwife) was there to greet us. She checked me and said, “Well, you’re almost there…but I am going to have you go back home and try to get some sleep. Take a Benadryl, you’re going to need your rest.”

Well, I couldn’t sleep, though I tried very hard. I was moaning with each contraction, every 4 minutes or so…I decided at that point I could no longer concentrate on my Hypnobabies tracks and decided to just let go and give into what was happening.

We went back to the Center and was greeted by housekeeping, she answered the door and when she saw me, threw all of her cleaning supplies out of her hands and embraced me. She stroked my back and told me, “I know honey, I know”. At that point I started sobbing.

I made my way to the tub and my fiancé got in with me. Ashley put on music and I tried to concentrate on that. I repeatedly told myself, "Relax, one less contraction I’ll every have to deal with”.

My mother, sister and her boyfriend arrived at 9 am. They looked so excited and nervous. They brought a bunch of food and sat around the tub. We cracked jokes between contractions.

At around (this is where I start to lose track of time) 11(?) am, I was really into it, got out of the tub, went to the bathroom, moaning and swaying my hips, my mom followed me and reminded me to keep my moans low pitched. She moaned with me during each contraction, she swayed my hips for me, she massaged my back. I looked at her with tears in my eyes and she told me how beautiful I was and proud of me she was.

My family had to force food and water into my mouth because I was so exhausted and not at all hungry. They put cool rags on my head, massaged my back and told me what a great thing I was doing for my son. My fiancé continued to encourage me telling me I was the best mom in the world.

It was the afternoon (3?) and my water still hadn’t broken, so the midwife said she was going to break it, I was still not dilated much (she never told me a number and I was thankful for that, then I didn’t have to focus on numbers). I lay on the bed and she broke my water, it was the strangest feeling in the world, so much fluid came out. Shortly after the midwife then told me, “OK, have your fiancé go downstairs with you, go outside and walk up and down the block once”. She wanted to get things going. I was wondering how I was going to do that... but we did, and my fiancé later told me it took us about 45 minutes.

Again, she checked and I wasn’t far enough along. She told me I may have to transfer to the hospital if I wasn’t at least 9. I was bound and determined not go that route and tried very hard to concentrate on opening more. She checked- I was 9.5!

I didn’t feel very pushy, but I decided to begin pushing. I pushed on the toilet, in the tub, on my back, on a birthing stool, with assistance from others, I squatted, I pushed on my side, I pushed on my knees. Nothing was working.

By 8 PM, I was still pushing, and I was making the most primal sounds, I didn’t know I even had that in me! The midwife noticed I was making good progress on my back, so I lie on my back, my mom and fiancé holding a leg back and pushed. I reached down and felt my baby’s head. It was the most surreal experience ever. (He’s really coming, I am doing this!) I pushed with all my might (for another hour) and his head came out! Everyone was cheering and crying and the “ring of fire” they talk about was intense! I decided to concentrate my efforts on pushing and choose to ignore the sensations. I pushed 5 more pushes and he was out! They placed my son on my stomach and everyone was crying, kissing my head and marveling at the newest edition of our family. I was on the best high of my life. They waited until the cord stopped pulsing and then cut it, dried him off and wrapped him up. They placed him in my arms and I was able to finally see my son, face-to-face. He was (is) beautiful.

Eliot Leif Theodore was born October 11th, 2010 at 9:38 PM. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Although I did labor for far longer than I imaged (28 hours!) every time I see my little man’s face I knew I made the right choice. I was able to birth how I wanted surrounded by the love and comfort of my family. It was the most difficult and beautiful day of my life.

I would like to thank all of the women at Best Start for being so wonderful to me throughout my entire pregnancy. I looked forward to seeing the staff with each prenatal visit, and felt so comfortable there. I would also like to say a very big thank you to Ashley, Felicity and Delilah, you made my dream birth a reality, and I will be forever grateful.

Molly Janine was born at 10:26am on Friday, August 13th, 2010 and sized up at 7lbs.1oz and 20in long. I had some minor contractions on and off most of the week, but nothing really exciting until Thursday. I began noticing some regularity to the contractions around noon, and they continued regularly between 8-10 minutes apart. They felt like light period cramps and didn't really seem to intensify, but I could definitely feel them. After getting a little prematurely excited, I had my mom come down and join us around 4pm. I was hopeful because they persisted in regularity, even when taking a shower or leaving familiar environments, but they never really got stronger. Finally around 11pm I accepted that nothing was happening any time soon (they still felt like light period cramps.) I went to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly. The contractions must have been slowly getting stronger throughout the day, or got a lot stronger when I fell asleep, because once I fell asleep I noticed I was waking up every contraction or two. At 1:45am I began to think they might be speeding up, so I laid there watching the clock for a bit and was shocked that I had 3 in 15 minutes! They were definitely stronger and already 5 minutes apart, and some closer, ranging between 2-5 minutes apart! To make sure I wasn't crazy, I woke up Neil and put him on contraction timing so I wouldn't stare at the clock in excitement. After 30 minutes we realized they were definitely every 5 minutes, with some smaller gaps. We decided to take a shower and see if they slowed down or stopped, then call the midwife. At 3am we got out of the shower and the hot water had done nothing to slow the contractions, so we called and woke up the midwife on call. It was Ashley, who we had had the most appointments with and really liked! I felt so bad waking her up but it was definitely time to touch base. She listened to me go through a few contractions while talking to me on the phone and decided that I was still pretty lucid between them so we should wait before I came in to the birth center. I was to call her back in an hour if anything sped up or got super intense, or 2 hours if not. An hour later (4am) I finally started getting bloody show and lost what was left of my mucus plug (I had lost part of it 3 weeks before, then it either reformed or I lost more of it earlier in the week.) My water bag was still intact, but I had to grab a pad because I was bleeding pretty consistently now, but no clots or anything bright or gushy/scary. Half an hour later, 4:30am, my contractions settled on being a regular 2-4 minutes apart and "very intense" according to Neil's notes. This was actually still really not too bad, but a significant increase in intensity from what I had been feeling before. I suddenly realized that this was real, I was in labor, and at some point pretty soon we would have our baby! Somehow I was still just feeling really calm and excited, packing the last few odds and ends for the "hospital" bag (incense, candles, comfy clothes, snacks, etc.) When a contraction would hit the only things that seemed to help were 1) sitting on the toilet 2) grabbing the edge of the breakfast bar and swaying my hips 3) getting on my knees and draping myself over the birth/exercise ball and rolling around, or 4) sitting on the birth ball and bouncing. Neil started putting some pressure on my sacrum when I was in a position to do so. I should have realized at the time, but didn't, that I was having back labor. Any position that was anything like 'on my back' was excrutiating, and I can't imagine if I had been in a hospital bed at this point. Being stuck in a damn bed and unable to wander around would've killed me - the epidural wouldn't have been able to come fast enough! The baby had shifted a little so her occiput was banging into my sacrum and intensifying the pain. It was seriously manageable with the ability to change positions, though, and as I said I didn't even know this was the case until after the birth. 4:45am, about an hour and a half after I initially called the midwife, I called her back to let her know that things were speeding up and we should think about meeting up at the birth center. Ashley asked me a few questions and a contraction hit - I had to hand the phone off to Neil because I could no longer talk during one, just breathe and wander around or bounce. I forgot to mention, but they were all consistently between 45sec-1:15min long. When it was over I talked to her again and we decided to meet at the birth center at 6am. I figured that would give us enough time to grab anything else we needed, eat something, and get us there right when I needed to be. (They will check you out beforehand, but you can't be admitted to a birthing suite until you are dilated to 6cm, so I didn't want to get there too early. Plus, I didn't want to be at the birth center forever since I was managing okay at home.) We packed up and got going, and Mom went to a donut shop and Von's and brought us some croissant sammiches, pastries, and fruit. At 6:15am Ashley checked my cervix (my first cervical check of the pregnancy! :) and found that I was already dilated to 5cm, 90% effaced, with a bulging water sac. Yay! She suggested I go for a walk and eat some food if I could, and plan on checking into the suite in about 45 minutes. Neil and I went out front to watch the sunrise with mom, and I paced back and forth on the porch. By this point the contractions were so intense when they hit that I had to hold on the railing and kind of squat or sway, while Neil beat up my sacrum with his fists. They were now coming every 2-3 minutes pretty consistently, but the spaces in between were heaven. As soon as each one ended, I'd have a bite or sip of something, and we'd chat. Finally we went inside and Ashley gave Neil some tips on sounding with me and helped me get into a good focused breath rhythm. I couldn't go through a contraction at this point without making noise, so I was doing a lot of ohming and haaaa-ing. I REALLY wanted to OOOWWW each one, but she reminded me how negative and unproductive that sound is, so every time I started to say OW I corrected myself. Neil was a big help, though he kept making goofy faces and I knew he felt stupid making the noises with me. Things started getting really fuzzy for me at this point, and I know I was in 'Laborland'. We hung out in the classroom for a bit, and got into our suite around 7:30 or 8, and between contractions I went around 'nesting' in the suite. I lit some incense and a candle, had Neil set up my iPod with calming music, etc. Ashley was going off-call at 8am, but the next midwife on call was Susan. She's the clinical director at Best Start and next to Ashley was the midwife I was most comfortable with, so even though I was sad that Ashley had to leave, I was pleased that Susan would be the one attending my birth. Susan came in and I was just about to hop in the shower, and she asked whether I would like to be re-checked now or after my shower. I should have had her check me then, but the thought of laying down to get checked was SO unappealing that I decided to wait until after the shower in hopes that the hot water would help me stay calm and I would dilate more. I only made it through 2-3 contractions in the shower before I had to get out because it wasn't big enough for me to get into a comfortable position, I felt like I couldn't stay still. This coupled with feeling overly hot and twitchy should have been a sign that I was entering transition, but nothing made sense anymore. I didn't even want Neil to touch me, I just paced up and down the hall making crazy noises until Susan came back in to check my cervix. When she got me onto the bed to check me I was hit by the biggest contraction yet, and I started saying that I couldn't do it, everything hurt, and she found that I was already dilated to 9cm and the baby would be coming soon! It was about 9:40am. Susan immediately started filling the big beautiful birthing tub with water and called her assistant Delilah to let her know that things had gone much faster than expected and that she needed to get up here. When Neil and I got in the water, my bag of waters finally burst! I was nearly fully dilated at this point. It must've been really strong. :) I was starting to feel like I should start pushing soon. Susan's assistant Delilah showed up just in time for me to start pushing. At some point Neil got out of the water but I was completely distracted. The water made the contractions feel SOOO much better!! Later Susan told me that Molly swiveled around in the birth canal when my water bag broke, and it was infinitely better than transition. I felt like I could do this all day. I changed position a few times and finally settled on pushing on all fours in the water. 15 minutes and 4-5 pushes later, Molly slid right out. My little Leo baby gave me very little trouble during labor, leaving me with a tiny 1st degree tear - even though her hand came out next to her face. I'm very grateful for my birth experience and the lack of drugs or pushed interventions that allowed me to be involved and aware the whole time. Less than 12 hours after leaving the house we were back home with Molly!

Jaiden's Due date was August 6th 2010. I started getting anxious when he had still not decided to grace us at 3 days past.....6 days past... then 9 days passed.... on the morning of Aug 16th (after previously having my membranes swiped) I had another past due checkup. I went in and found I was still about 4 cm and 90% effaced, having light contractions that I didn't know I was having and that there was plenty of fluid in there for him still. She did not swipe my membranes again because I was already really thin.

On our way home I had said " Wouldn't it be a kicker if this little guy decided to come after my appointmentnt? Make me get up and come to my 8 am apt to just pop out later."

At home, 1pm rolled around. I was sitting at the kitchen table and felt a quarter sized wet spot. I really didnt think anything of it because my mucus plug had been leaking for weeks. I decided to go pump to help bring on contractions (which I had been doing for a few days prior) I sit down put the pump on my breast and before I could even turn it on I was sitting in a HUGE puddle of water. I just started laughing and to the bathroom I went.

I called my MW Ashley and let her know and she said to just try and start contractions now. I had some pizza, just kind of relaxed and about 4:30 pm I started to feel contractions. I decided to go lay down for a bit because I was tired. When I did so my contractions were about 20 min apart. NO longer then an hour and I woke up because contractions were so strong. I sat up and felt a huge POP/rip down there. I went to the bathroom ... crying because they were getting strong fast. Chris came in to start timing them so we could see when to go. About 10-15 min of timing my contractions they went from 10 min apart to 4 min. WE HAD TO LEAVE! We arrived at Best Start around 6:40 ish and in no time I was in hard labor. I honestly did a majority of my labor on the toilet. I just could not move and when I did it was fast and swift. I ended up getting back in the tub. About 20 min in I felt a huge rip ( a inner muscle ripped), let out a scream and knew his head was out. Ashley was in the middle of delivering another baby. Before you knew it Jaiden's head was out for about three minutes... as soon as she came in I had to push . She shoved her bare hands in the water and out he came. So smooth and the pain was relieved!! He fully arrived at 8:58 pm @ 8lbs 0oz. With a Healthy Natural water birth, Jaiden was peaceful when he was out.

Labor was interesting. I had no breathing time because contractions were so close pretty much the whole time. I threatened everyone to get me pain killers. Its quit funny now, at the time... not so much. The had to bring in a Dula (Nat) because it was SOO intense. I don't know what O would have done without her! And knowing what I know would I do it again ??? Heck YES I would!!! Thank you Ashley!!

- Ashley, Chris & Jaiden

See photos and more: http://lifewithtaj.blogspot.com/

Our due date was Tuesday, July 20th. By that day, nothing had changed, I felt no different, no contractions, nothing. So when we were invited by our friend Willow and my sister to the preview night of Comicon the next night, I jumped right on it. I thought all of that walking would bring the baby right on down. People thought I was crazy walking, or should I say waddling around there a day after my due date. Just as I thought, by the end of that night, and nearly six laps across the length of the convention center, the baby's head felt like a bowling ball between my legs. Progress had been made. The next morning, Thursday July 22nd, I woke up with a feeling that "today was the day." I felt an urge to get up and repetitively walk up the steep hill by our house. I thought, "I'll walk the baby out!" By the time Drew got home from work I still had a ton of energy. We decided to walk to Trader Joe's to get something to make for dinner. I have to say, Drew was somewhat weary. He couldn't believe I had been walking up that hill all day, and that I still wanted to walk more, but he conceded. So we walked, and the entire time I kept getting these interesting sensations; little fluttery surges of energy. They were nothing consistent, or even painful, but I wondered out loud, "if these feelings get stronger will they be contractions?" The whole time we were in the store we were joking with our friends who work there that we might be going into labor. On the walk home I started getting curiouser. I would stop walking every few minutes and focus on this strange feeling that would last maybe only 45 seconds. Drew asked me if it hurt. I said, "Not at all, but something is definitely going on in there." :D We got home, made dinner, and sat there watching a movie. Drew noticed that during the movie I started picking up my cell phone to look at the time. He began questioning me. I told him something might be happening but I wasn't sure. It wasn't consistent or very intense. I could see the glimmer of excitement brewing in Drew's eyes, but he remained calm and we finished watching the movie. Ten o'clock rolled around and there was definitely some kind of rhythm happening with these sensations. They were a bit stronger but I still felt no discomfort. I decided I needed to take a shower before bed. I wanted to be ready. When I laid down to sleep, I realized the surges were getting more intense. I rolled over to Drew and I told him that I did not think I would be able to sleep through these feelings after all. I was now confident it was starting. We brought the birthing ball upstairs and I was able to work through the rushes on my own for and hour or more before I decided I must call Stephanie, my doula and good friend. She arrived over an hour later. I remember things were getting to the point where I was asking Drew, "what's taking her so long?!" I felt very comforted when she finally arrived. She heated up the flax seed, herbal pillow I made and pressed it onto my lower black during the rushes. At some point I had the urge to go to the bathroom several times. We finally called the Midwife, Britta, who asked me if I could handle laboring at home a while longer. I lasted another couple hours before we opted to meet her at the Birthing Center. At Best Start, they will not admit you until you are six centimeters dilated. This requirement is to maximize the laboring woman's time at home, in her own comfortable setting, and to prevent her from getting ahead of herself and stalling out. The center does not want you there for hours on end if you are not progressing. So we arrived to the Birth Center at 3am on Friday, July 23rd. Britta checked me and I was only three centimeters. Luckily, I guess she could tell I was progressing, she let us get set up in our room and labor on our own without getting admitted. She went to rest in another room, gave us our space, and only came in to check me every now and again. I progressed about one centimeter and hour. I labored on the birthing ball, in the shower, on the toilet, on all fours. I walked, swayed, and danced with Drew. By 6am I was 6 cm dilated and ready to be admitted. Once I was admitted, Britta led me straight to the birthing tub. Although the warm water felt nice on my body, the tub was too shallow and I was unable to get in a comfortable position. I did not want to float horizontal in the tub and that is what was happening. I wanted a deeper pool so I could kneel against the side; something to consider for next time. The warm water happened to slow down my contractions a great deal, so the midwife highly recommended I get out of the water. At this point, everything was very hard for me. Moving to a new location seemed like such a chore. I remember saying, "Change is hard." During each contraction I absolutely needed someone to press really hard on my lower back/sacrum area. I did not yell, but if Stephanie or Drew were not pressing hard enough I would definitely let them know. After each contraction I would apologize for being too needy, too loud or too demanding of them. Britta kept saying that I was the sweetest laboring woman she ever remembered meeting. After the tub I got into the shower again, and then tried side-lying on the bed. By 8:30 there was a shift change with the midwives and Susan took over for Britta. I was sad to see Britta go, she was so sweet and comforting, but Susan had a very calm way about her that eased the transition. At about 9:15 I felt a gush of fluid, we thought my water had broken, but more came later. Apparently only one of the membranes had broken the first time. I stood up for a while to let gravity do its thing and by 10am I was having my bloody show. We were getting close. After rocking on the ball for a bit, I decided it was a good idea to take Susan's suggestion and walk down and back up the stairs. Interesting idea. I had a burst of energy and just went for it. By the time I reached the bottom of the staircase I was having another contraction. I collapsed and had a really hard time making it back up the stairs, moaning and feeling like I was leaking out all over the place. I headed from there, straight to the toilet. It was just after 11am and I finally started feeling pressure and the pushing began. Wow. I pushed from 11:15am until my son was born at 12:50pm. It was intense. To me, it was the contractions or surges during this time that hurt the most, not the opening up. By this point it was Friday and I hadn't slept since I woke up Thursday morning. The surges were so strong, it took every ounce of energy I had left to push through them. I was very vocal throughout my contractions, grunting deeply like a mama bear. I kept saying, "I can't." Susan, Drew and Stephanie kept saying, "You are!" What an amazing birthing team I had. They were so encouraging, positive and calm; especially Drew. I leaned so much on him during the birthing process. He was my rock and I couldn't have done it as gracefully without him. My parents, sister Kelly, and Drew's sister Mary, were all in the family room since the early morning. I had seen a few glimpses of them here and there. I knew they really wanted to be in the room and be a part of everything. A part of me wanted them in there too, but there was no way I could even fathom any more energy circulating in that room. In a way I had tunnel vision, was very focused, and couldn't handle distractions of any kind. Even another loving presence would have been too much, but I was comforted just knowing they were out there hearing it all. During the final surges, my parents, Kelly and Mary all snuck into the adjoining hallway to witness the final birth of Taj William. During most of the pushing Susan had me lying on the bed. I disliked it but could not speak up. Apparently, as I discovered after the birth, Taj's cord was around his neck and his heart rate was dropping dramatically. Susan did an amazing job of keeping it cool and I had no idea at all that she was concerned. She later told me she could not hear the baby's heart rate while I was standing up and that is why she had me on the bed. She spoke so softly and would encouragingly tell me how good I was doing. She kept saying, "You're very close, we see his head and you can push him out with the next contraction." It got to the point where I didn't believe her and I told her so. She asked if I wanted to touch his head but I couldn't muster the energy to do so. I had to focus and get this baby out now. During these last pushes I kept making the sound, "fffffffffffff." Stephanie told me to just say it already, but for some reason I could not get any curse words to pass my lips. With my last contraction, the hardest push I could garner, and a little help from Susan I yelled, "ffffffffuuuudgemeisterrrrrrr!" And with that, my son was born. :) Drew stayed by my side the entire time, caressing me and sending me his calm, grounded energy. At the end I felt him wavering with emotion as his eyes were welling up with tears. He felt this was a very spiritual experience. Susan asked if he wanted to catch the baby but he said he wanted to wait and see Taj for the first time with me. Susan caught Taj and placed him immediately on my chest. He took to the breast almost immediately. She wrapped him in a blanket and put a hat on his tiny head. My family joined me and my birthing team and we reveled in the joy of this beautiful being. We all sang him "Happy Birthday" and then we played the songs "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon and "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes. It was the most beautiful, meaningful moment of my life. At this point, Susan, Ashley, another midwife, and Delilah, their assistant who both came in during the final pushing all left the room for a good hour. During the labor I drank coconut water, Emergen-C with honey, and had a few popsicles to help keep my energy up, but at this point I was famished. My family brought us some Thai food, photos were snapped and the moment shared and cherished. When Delilah returned, she did all the tests, weighing and measuring, and then she, along with everyone else, left us alone. Drew, Taj and I were left to nap together as a family. We slept soundly for about four hours and were then released. We were home by 6pm. I won't lie, birthing my son was the most challenging experience I have ever had, and the most amazing. But Susan said that throughout the labor my heart rate never accelerated above 80bpm. During the height of my contractions I remember saying things like, "Why would anyone ever do this?!" and "I am NEVER doing this again!" I felt EVERYTHING. I kept reminding myself, "by this time tomorrow I will have my baby in my arms and this part will be all over." I continued focusing on the fact that each intense surge was bringing my baby closer to me. It worked because, by the next day I was thinking that Taj might need a baby sister in a couple years! :) I am so grateful that both my dear friend Stephanie and my Pops got some good footage and pics of the labor and delivery for us to look back on. Click on the following link to view some of the photos and video clips from Taj's Birthday. http://lifewithtaj.blogspot.com/

6 a.m. Spin class. “What the? I think my water just broke!” “Pat! My water just broke! Call the midwives and see what we’re supposed to do!” “Oh my gosh! You’re having a baby today!”

Morning: OB pier walk to make sure my water broke and was still leaking, Newbreak for breakfast and running into neighbor who also did early labor there, US wins World Cup game and OB erupts in cheers, unpacked and repacked bags to check for everything, acupuncture appointment with doc who also had her baby at Best Start, cotton root bark

Afternoon: lunch at Poma’s, groceries at People’s and stop at Liticker’s to stock long-awaited frosty beers. Shower and back to acupuncture. Best Start for 12-hour check of vitals, got to see ferny amniotic fluid under microscope, all good, but not in active labor… breast pump to bring more intense contractions closer together… mad scientist Pat on the ON/OFF switch.

Evening: Around 7:45 pm, after an hour on the pump, a check says I’m only 3 cm. I have to be in active labor to stay in a birthing suite; and I have to be in active labor by 6 am or we have to go to the hospital to get induced. We get sent away with instructions to use the breast pump until contractions are more intense and closer together. “Go home, eat a good dinner and get some rest so you have energy to labor through tonight.” We think to go to Balboa Park to have a picnic dinner, but contractions are getting stronger and I don’t want to make a scene at Balboa like I did in spin. L By the time we get home, contractions are way more intense and taking my breath away. We see neighbor Chris on the way in and I have to grab onto the fence and breath through a contraction. I go inside and get on the birthing ball on Baby’s nursery floor. Pat talks to Jesus and Heather, who also come out to hear news of the baby. Trying to get food in my belly between contractions proves difficult. After ½ hour on the ball, my back and knees hurt, so I want to walk to the sofa, but can’t, so I have to crawl on all fours. After 15-20 minutes on the sofa and Pat trying to feed me some kiwi and yogurt, I think I should go to the bathroom and we should head back to Best Start. On my walk to the bathroom, I double over on the steps. “I need to push! We need to go now!” Crazy ride back to Hillcrest… fat man with the pink-collared Chihuahua crossing the street, beat midwife back to dark, locked birth center… it’s 9:30 pm. “Hurry! We are not having this baby without you!” Brooke arrives moments later, lets us in and checks me. “Wow… 10 cm… nice work! Ready to push… do you want to have this baby in bed or in the tub?” She fills the tub. I get in and push an hour til he crowns. “You are made to have babies! You’re going to have to have a lot more!” I’m pushing, screaming, and thinking, “Bite your tongue, Brooke!” Another ½ hour to get him out… 11:21 pm. Since I was on my knees and he came out behind me, Brooke hiked Baby back through my legs to Pat so I could lean back in the tub and bring Baby to my chest. Ah, an indescribable moment. We sat in the tub together for about 15 minutes and then got in bed to deliver the placenta. Got a couple stitches, nursed Baby, and fell asleep for the rest of the night, all together in bed. Sweetness.

Thursday: Woke up and fed Baby. “What are we going to name him?” “I think I like Samuel.” “Don’t just name him Samuel because it’s my favorite.” “No, I really think I like Samuel.” Pat reads the story of Samuel in the Bible; and we name him Samuel Patrick. We pack up our things at Best Start and take Sammy home around 11am Thursday morning. The adventure begins…

Thank you, Best Start, especially Brooke and Sunshine, for an amazing pregnancy and birth experience! What a beautiful way to welcome Sammy into this world. We loved working with you all!
- Sarah, Pat and Sammy

Markus' Birth Story

About a week before labor actually began, I started having "pre-labor" contractions, which are not any less uncomfortable than actual labor contractions, they just come and go every once in awhile. So after a week of spontaneous contractions, and trying every wives tale out there to get labor to really start going, I finally started having something somewhat consistent around midnight the morning of June 7, 2010. I didn't want to get my hopes up since I'd been contracting so much already and it was always false, so I tried to do some last minute cleaning and then went to bed. I slept off and on for a few hours, before finally believing it was the real thing around 4am. That was the point at which I called my midwife and she agreed that I should probably come in. So I woke up Kacie and she agreed to meet us at the Birth Center. Then I woke up Joe, who just about shot out of bed and was ready to walk out the door about two and a half minutes later! Since we still had a little time, we ate some breakfast and I had him put up the "Welcome Home Markus" sign that I had made. Then we woke up Joli and headed in. I wasn't super uncomfortable yet, but uncomfortable nonetheless.
Joli was very excited to be in action and wanted to help midwife Ashley in any way she could.

Ashley checked me and said that I was dilated to four centimeters. Things started picking up a little but not really too much, so Ashley sent Joe and I for a walk. Joli stayed at the Birth Center with Kacie and watched a Toy Story. Things started picking up a little more after our walk, but still not a lot.

Ashley checked me again and I was still only at six centimeters so she decided to break my water, which seemed to be the real kick off! Joe and I went for another walk and by the time we got back I couldn't tell where one contraction ended and another one began. This is the point where I was drifting in and out of sleep and only remember bits and pieces.

Joe was amazingly supportive and really did every thing he could to motivate and encourage me! I'm still so impressed and grateful for how wonderful he was throughout the entire process. It was so wonderful to feel his presence through each contraction.

As usual, my stomach failed me and I spent a lot of those last few hours throwing up. Every one was doing their best to keep my hydrated in hopes that I wouldn't need an IV. Kacie was also an amazing multi-tasker! She was running in and out checking on Joli, taking HUNDREDS of pictures, and even holding the puke bowl every now and again!

After a few hours I began to feel the urge to push and Ashley had me move into the birthing tub. Joli had been taking a nap and woke up just in time for Joe to go in get her. She wasn't too happy about seeing me in pain and decided that maybe she didn't want to see the baby come out after all.

Joli went back out to watch a movie and Joe came back to be my support once again. Although I was barely aware of anything that was going on, it was so nice to have him there!

Ashley checked me again and realized that although I was full on ready to push, I was still only dilated to seven centimeters. So she ended up having to stretch me those last few centimeters and the baby dropped right down! Nine minutes of intense pushing later, Markus was born!

Poor little guy was wrapped up in his umbilical cord and trying to get a good breath. As soon as nurse Felicity and Ashley were able to get him untangled, he began crying!

Joe and Ashely helped me out of the tub and to the bed where I went on to deliver the placenta. Joe cut the cord and Markus started nursing right away!! Ashley and Felicity gave Joe and I a couple hours to bond before checking Markus. He came away a very healthy report!

Although he was ten days early, Markus weighed seven pounds and four ounces, and was nineteen and a half inches long. He had an Apgar score of nine, just minutes after birth. Overall a healthy little baby!

After another couple hours I was ready to be home in my own bed so I got myself and my new bundle dressed and ready to go!

It was such an amazing and wonderful day!! I have now had two beautiful births and am so grateful for my two beautiful children!