Gather ‘round friends! It’s birth story time.

Friday morning I woke up and just knew I was having a baby that day. I insisted that Will and I go to breakfast and during breakfast I started to feel a little crampy. Then I insisted that we go by the grocery store and just pick up a few things and I definitely noticed I was having mild contractions walking around. I wasn’t concerned enough to tell Will yet so we just went on with our day.

About 1:00 pm on Friday I had 2 back to back contractions that I just couldn’t deny anymore and I knew we needed to get the kids out of the house so I told Will and started shuffling kids around. Well, I guess the stress of it all slowed my contractions down and honestly I was afraid that I had sent my kids away for no reason. I started timing things, they were all over the place, we watched a movie, I gave up timing contractions about 9pm because I was getting really frustrated with it.

We decided to go to bed and I said I was going to pretend like nothing was happening. We went upstairs and I laid down had a couple more contractions and BOOM my water broke at 10:45 pm! The discomfort all day was totally manageable but once my water broke I had to start getting in my zone a little more. Will made me call the midwives and the doula, I still thought I had some time even at 2 minutes apart and water broken.

Julie the doula showed up first, set up the pool (thank goodness because it may not have happened if she hadn’t!) I started listening to my music and seriously had to start going inward at that point. Jen Conway the midwife apprentice showed up and even though I was in my zone I could feel her and hear her buzzing around and getting things ready.

At some point during this process I hopped in the pool and let’s just say at this point it was game on. Carrie the midwife showed up and I know I had already had one push and it’s almost like her presence sent me over the edge. 3 pushes later, and a lot of work from the ENTIRE birth team, little Harlow made her debut at around 1:30 am. I will tell you guys those 2 hours were intense.

Harlow was born to the song “Youth” by Glass Animals. The album is called “How to be a Human Being” how appropriate, I seriously laughed about it.

My birth team stayed until 5am making sure everyone and everything was perfect before they went home. I loved hearing them downstairs just doing what they do. Will did an AMAZING job and was with me and present holding my hand every step of the way!

I know I’m missing a ton of beautiful details but I’m not the best story teller. At the least I want to get across a few things…Homebirth is hard and beautiful and I couldn’t do it without the women I had around me. I’ve had all 3 of my births at home and regret nothing. Will is an amazing partner and I couldn’t have done it without him. This hasn’t been a gentle pregnancy for me and I didn’t think I would make it to the end. It was such a redeeming moment when she finally got here. I was hoping for a short birth and was blessed beyond what I asked for.