The Not-So Gory Details

For Kayla and anyone else interested in the labor itself- it went very smoothly. My contractions started at 3:30am on the 19th. Not very strong but by 6:30am they were coming at about 5 minute intervals. I called my midwife then and she suggested resting through them as much as I could, at that point I spent some time using the hypnobirthing and relaxation techniques I'd practiced and the contractions started to slow down. By about 10 am they had almost stopped maybe only one contraction per 15 minutes to half an hour. I made an appointment to see my midwife at 2:00 in the office, I stressed to her that I didn't want to go into the hospital any earlier than necessary (in the back of my head I was concerned that this could be false labor). At the appointment I was dilated to between 3-4cm (I was dilated to 2 the day before) and she thought my water would break at any point. She thought that things were happening and suggested that Andy and I stay in Petoskey instead of heading back to Charlevoix through Venetian Festival Traffic and a big stretch of road construction. I thought she was being overly cautious but we decided to listen to her anyway. Shortly after leaving the appointment my contractions started getting stronger again and were increasing in frequency. We called a friend who lives in Petoskey and asked if she'd mind if we stayed at her house while I tried to work through contractions for a while. She said that it was no problem and it worked out perfectly, she was at work, so it gave Andy and I the house to ourselves to relax in a home environment. By about 6pm I was thinking that we needed to think about heading to the hospital. At 6:30pm I was certain when my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. We got there at 6:45. The nurse who delivered Fisher and taught our birthing wisdom class was getting off work at 7:00pm that night so I was really just hoping to be able to see her for a few last minute words of wisdom and encouragement. It turned out that they had a full house at the hospital that night and she was able to stay for Noah's delivery, God's so good! Okay, so when I got to the hospital I was dilated to 8cm. I labored for about another hour in the hospital and at 8:05pm started pushing, at 8:20 Noah was born (which I got to watch in a mirror)! It was exactly what I'd hoped for this birth experience. I know that second babies usually come much faster than the first, but there were a lot of things that I think made a difference - no medication to make me groggy, relaxation techniques that really worked for me, and staying away from the hospital as long as I possibly could. I'm not trying to tell anyone what will work for them, I'm just telling you what worked for me. I of course also couldn't have done it without the unwavering support of my hubby, the encouragement from a great nurse, and the wisdom of my midwife. So those are the gory details, not bad eh?