1am: I woke up to something that felt like light period cramps. I didn’t think much of it so tried to get back to sleep until I realized that they were coming in a pattern then it clicked that they were early labor contractions. I let my husband know and we tried to both go ahead and get some sleep.

I then woke up at 4:00am and called Julie to let her know what was going on to give her the heads up that today might be the day and again tried to get some sleep since we didn’t know what our day was going to look like.

The morning came and we tried our best to go about our day as normal as possible. We had breakfast, sat outside watching the dogs play and Tyler did some baking.

It was around 12:00 when I realized I couldn’t talk through the contractions anymore and it was probably time to ask Julie if she could come over. While the active labor started we were in the living room and I felt each wave but tried my best to focus in on what we were taught in Julie’s Blissborn hypnobirthing class. Each wave was so beautiful as I knew it was going to bring me my daughter.

Tyler helped me make my way to the shower and I remember thinking how good it felt even though those waves kept coming and crashing. I decided to get out and lay in bed and told Tyler I thought it would be a good time for him to go have lunch himself before it got to be too crazy and Julie agreed.

Once Tyler left the room I felt a pop in my belly and an instant rush of fluid come out and knew my water broke. I yelled for Tyler and I think I said something along the lines of “my water broke! That was so cool! I’m so happy I got to feel that! That was amazing!” He helped me over to the toilet and even though I felt some sort of relief when my water broke the contractions instantly got a bit tougher and I felt like I had to push. Julie called our midwife team from Beloved Birth, and it felt like they got there in a blink of an eye.

Julie and Tyler both suggested I get in the pool and after a few minutes, I agreed. Once in the pool I had my head lying on the side and all I wanted was for my husband to place his hands on my face so I can grab his wrists. I felt completely safe in this position. I ended up getting on my knees in the birth pool and the midwife explained that she was going to pass the baby through my legs so I can bring her up to my chest.

After 20 minutes of pushing I felt her make her entrance at 4:30pm on 10/31/2024. I brought her close, asked the midwife if she was ok (Karla was so reassuring and continued to let me know she was fine) and then I saw my baby’s big, beautiful eyes wide open taking it all in. I looked up to see my husband and realized everything we had ever hoped, dreamed and prayed for was in our hands. We did it.

We crawled into bed where sweet Hollyn instantly latched and our incredible support team, Julie our doula, Karla and Abby our midwife team, brought us food, drinks and cleaned everything up.

Baby and I were healthy so by 8:00pm my husband, Hollyn, and I laid in a quiet house talking about the whole experience, smiling ear to ear because it was a complete dream from start to finish it.

There is not a single thing I would have changed. We are so so so grateful for our team that now feel like family. Thankful, grateful and blessed beyond measure.