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.