It was the friday before my due date, and in the early hours of the morning I started to feel some contractions. As I lay in bed I realized they were weak compared to what I would experience in more active labor, but they were quite a bit more substantial than any other tweaks I had been having. I was excited because I had gone late my last two pregnancies and I really wanted this baby to come before Christmas. I hoped that these contractions were signs that baby was soon to arrive.

When Luke and the two kids were also up, I told him I thought it was time to move in with his parents for the weekend (since we live an hour away from the Birth house, but Luke’s folks live only 10 minutes away), We had been considering this already, since there were two significant snow storms coming that weekend, one friday evening and one sunday.

We packed the kids up and made sure I had any last minute things for the birth and headed to eat at Chutes (or the shop as we call it, the place Luke’s folks own). I was a kind of bummed because the contractions had slowed down quite a bit. There was a bunch of Luke’s extended family at the shop and we chatted a little with them and I made sure to eat well (ha, hardly a problem).

Once in Naples we settled in. The contractions were quite far apart now and I hardly noticed them.  After dinner, as I rested by the fire, I started to notice the contractions again, They felt strong enough that I should start timing them. Luke was reminding me that I’m not good at keeping track of those things and that I tend to progress quickly through labor. After the kids were in bed I had to walk around and breathe and relax through some of the contractions, but they varied in length and strength so I knew we were a ways off. Nonetheless Maila made a back-up plan to replace herself at the shop the next day and Luke and I agreed to discuss whether he should go bake for his dad at 3:30am, when he would be leaving.

I slept fitfully, partly from excitement and at 3am told Luke too go ahead, I thought we had time. Of course by 4:30 I started to feel more contractions. I slept on and off and then finally around 5:30/6am decided to notice how close they were together. They were about 6 minutes apart. I thought about waiting to make sure they got closer together, but then thought the better of it, this is why I got to the other birth center so late in the process with Gillian!

I called Luke and told him to come home (it had snowed most of the night so I wasn’t sure how good the roads were, and I was worried he’d be awhile). Then I started brushing my teeth, My mother-in-law heard me walking around and after observing me for a few minutes suggested I call the midwife :). Heidi told me she would go warm up the house and that it sounded like I was in real labor. We gave her about an hour’s head start by the time luke got home and changed and gathered my birth house bags.

Around 7:45 we arrived. Heidi had the house ready for us. We got upstairs and started settling in, then Danielle the student midwife arrived. First I would walk around and pace then lay on the comfy bed during contractions. Luke kept me laughing because we were trying to remember for me to squeeze his non-ring fingered hand as I had caused him pain in a previous birth that way! I was having a lot of back labor so he also had to rub my back.

In between contractions, the midwives checked the baby’s heartbeat and my bp and all that. At around 8:30 Heidi checked my progress.

I was a whopping 3 cms. Oh man I thought, we’re going to be here all day. I was a little discouraged because the contractions seemed more painful than that!

However, very quickly, they changed and began coming faster. The third midwife, Robin arrived and the tub got filled up. It was such a relief to get into that tub. Seriously, I want one of those tubs.

Anyway, we sort of all settled into our jobs, the midwives at the side of the tub in various positions, occasionally checking heartbeats and all that, Luke right behind me, giving me water and holding my hand(s) during contractions, and me breathing and vocalizing through the contractions, which were coming alot faster now.

The tub in nicely situated in the  birth room between two windows that are just low enough that I could see out them. The snow was falling again and between contractions I was so peaceful and would just watch the snow fall and drink water and rest. Those were not particularly long times of rest, but they were quite a nice break. I still remember that peaceful feeling when I picture it in my head now…

Eventually the contractions got so strong and were so close together that I was hardly having a break. At this point I was praying, very basic, Oh God help me/give me strength prayers (ok and maybe, it’s ok if you want to take the pain away prayers, ha ha), and also giving myself a pep talk- ok Bridget, you did this twice before, you have two adorable awesome kids, you are likely to really like this one too etc etc. This was all internal.

The midwives were super supportive. They would verbalize how I was doing and would wait to check the baby’s heartbeat until I was in between contractions if they could. If Luke happened to be away from the tub to stretch or whatever, I would squeeze the life out of Danielle’s hand instead. They got me towels for behind my head and a wash cloth to squeeze in my other hand, which eventually I balled up and used behind my back to press on. It felt good to have so any people quietly encouraging me on.

Towards the end, I was feeling spent and really really wanted to be done. At this point I asked Luke if we could adopt the next child, (he said we weren’t discussing that in the middle of labor- ha ha ha) and also asking “am I close to pushing, because I’m done with this part and I’d rather be holding my baby now.”

Soon Heidi checked me and said I was really close and would be able to start gently pushing pretty soon. For the first time in my three pregnancies I actually saw the baby start to descend, and it was neat to watch. I’m not sure how soon after that  it was that I began to push, but it seems like it was nearly right away. I gave what I thought were a few small pushes and then, ka-bam, out like a cannonball Oliver shot into the water. I kid you not, it was really quick. Luke joked later that he was placing bets at which midwife would be jumping in the tub to get Ollie.

Heidi scooped up Ollie, who seemed to be swimming around and voila, I was holding my little boy in my arms! Since we hadn’t found out what the gender of the baby was, we were happy to learn we had another boy and to call him by his name. That birth high is so amazing! I was relieved, and crying and happy.The whole place was happy. Robin called out that it was 10:30. Yes 2 hours from 3cm to birth! Yikes.

Ollie was quite vocal and we worked on nursing, which he was happy about. After a few minutes of resting, some pictures and just enjoying Oliver, Luke cut the umbilical cord and took Ollie and I worked on “birthing” the placenta. At which point the tub no longer appealed to me and I was helped out and over to the bed, where I settled in with Oliver for a while. That bed and all it’s pillows were so comfy!

Luke and I admired Oliver and the midwives made sure we were all healthy and comfy then they left us alone for a bit. Luke was calling parents and twittering the news.Everyone kept making sure I was eating and drinking. I was so happy. Ollie nursed for some unbelievably long time. Someone brought the midwives pancakes and they shared. Yum.

Eventually the midwives came back and did all the weighing and measuring and checking out Ollie. He was 7lbs 12 oz, which is about 11 and 12 ounces more than Bruce and Lily, respectively.  He was still quite alert (he had  scored a perfect 10 on his apgar)and not entirely thrilled to be checked out.

Finally we got him dressed up and we got all ready to leave. I was getting sleepy and so was Oliver and we knew it would be a great time to go back to the in laws, show off the baby to his siblings and grandparents and then take a good long nap before my parents arrived.

I can’t even tell you how much  I appreciated the birth house experience. It was intense, obviously having such a rapid active labor, but I felt so supported the whole time, and it was nice to be in a quiet restful peaceful space. For the second delivery in a row, I felt safe, cared for, supported and mostly peaceful (between contractions ) and it was very helpful to the process.   Luke is pretty much a super genius now during the labor, which was great.

This being the third labor, I also felt like I “knew” what to do and was not scared or anything, just happy when the pain was over and I was holding my little munchkin.