Birth of Josie

Early morning (about 1am) on August 5, while I was lying on the couch watching TV, my water broke. And when I say broke, I mean it burst! I was so surprised, I quickly rolled off the couch (as gracefully as I could) while exclaiming "oh my gosh oh my gosh!" I then managed to create a river of amniotic fluid from the living room to the bathroom. Haha. I couldn't believe how much fluid there was. Justin had already gone to sleep, and I tried yelling upstairs to wake him up twice. I eventually managed to rouse him from his stupor, and he of course was excited and in disbelief.

I called Jan, my midwife, to let her know, and she told me to go to sleep and call her if the contractions became unbearable. Justin called her around 3:30 I think, to ask her to come on over. My contractions were 7 minutes apart, so perhaps we called too early, but I just felt much better having her there. She arrived shortly after 5, and checked my dilation: 2 1/2 cm. That's it?! She checked again a few hours later, after I had had many contractions, and I was dilated to 3 1/2 cm. Oh man, this is going to be a really really long process. I was a bit discouraged at that point.

By now, Nicole, the doula, had gotten there, and was doing a great job supporting Justin and me. I moved around a lot trying to find a position that was most comfortable to handle the contractions: lying on my side, on my hands and knees, sitting on the birthing ball, leaning on the birthing ball. Basically, they hurt regardless. Justin and Nicole were great at getting me to relax. "Unclench your hands, don't wrinkle your forehead, relax your shoulders" as I took big breaths to get through each one. I remember saying that I totally understand why women get the epidural now! But being at home, I didn't have that choice. Or any choice for pain meds! I kept asking when I could get in the tub, and Nicole told me I was supposed to wait until I couldn't stand it anymore, or until I was like 6 cm dilated. So she'd say, "let's get through this next contraction and see how you feel." Like crap. Haha.

At this point, it was just me, Justin, and Nicole in the house. Jan had left to get a bite to eat, thinking it would be hours before there would be any serious action. Anyway, I got in the tub and immediately felt a tiny bit better. It didn't take long for me to realize that the water is nice, but it certainly doesn't take the pain away. Jan got back and checked my cervix, which had dilated up to between 6 and 7 cm!

Not too long after that, my contractions were very close together. I wasn't timing them, but I recall someone saying they're right on top of each other. It didn't really cross my mind that I was in transition though. Somehow I managed to fall asleep between contractions. Justin said I was in a zone. Whatever that means. I think it was my body's way of protecting my sanity. As I was trying to breathe through my contractions, my body started to convulse a little. It was a bit weird. Justin would tell me to just take big breaths. I couldn't help it! Jan then checked my cervix (about 30 minutes had passed since the last time) and said that if my body wanted to push, I could because I was 10cm. Woohoo! Okay, so I wasn't exactly that cheerful at that moment.