My baby boy Dylan was born Friday morning, 1/9 (his EDD was 1/8) at 3:40am, at home! 
He weighs 8 pounds, 3 ounces and is 21.25" long, with a 14" head.
I spent all day Thursday having mild, very irregular, crampy contractions and bloody show (after 10 days of gradually losing the mucus plug). They didn't bother me much, so I went out for lunch, took the car in to get a part replaced, and got a manicure and pedicure (figuring if I didn't do those things then, it wouldn't happen!) After taking a bath Thursday evening, the pre-labor ended and real labor began pretty definitively around 8:30pm. The first four hours or so were pretty manageable and I was able to set up the bed and pool with DH, and we made cupcakes. It progressed very quickly from every 9-10 minutes to every 6 or 7 minutes to only a few contractions 5 minutes apart and then a few 4 minutes apart. We called the midwife and doula around 1:15am, which is when I had to abandon the cupcake frosting for DH to finish while I went to get in the pool. I only lasted a few contractions in the pool before it got really uncomfortable to be in (that was a surprise). I had to go straddle the toilet and started feeling like I had to poop. Things went really fast from there, and all of a sudden I felt the urge to push, but the midwife and doula weren't here yet. DH called the midwife again and she told me to breathe through it and not push (yeah, right!). Finally, the doula arrived around 2:15 and the midwife around 2:30am. I was already pushy when they got here, but my water didn't break until I was going from the toilet to the bed around 2:20. Then I spent an hour or so really pushing, at first leaning back on the floor against the bed, then on my knees on the floor, bending over the side of the bed. He came out with his cord wrapped around both shoulders and his neck, but he was fine and breathed quickly. The last push sent his whole body flying out, though, without a pause between the head and shoulders. I had a bit of a hemorrhage after he came out, which the midwife thinks may have been from the cord pulling on the placenta and partially detaching it (he really went flying!). She gave me Cytotec suppositories and a methergine shot, and that dealt with it pretty quickly, although it looked like a war zone (hooray for plastic sheeting over the bed!). I also got a small labial tear that needed 2 stitches. About 20 minutes after he was born, he nursed for a solid hour, and he's been pretty reluctant to do anything but eat since then!
So, all in all, it was a pretty quick 7 hour labor and successful homebirth!
: He's sleeping now, finally, so I'm going to try to sleep too.
He weighs 8 pounds, 3 ounces and is 21.25" long, with a 14" head.
I spent all day Thursday having mild, very irregular, crampy contractions and bloody show (after 10 days of gradually losing the mucus plug). They didn't bother me much, so I went out for lunch, took the car in to get a part replaced, and got a manicure and pedicure (figuring if I didn't do those things then, it wouldn't happen!) After taking a bath Thursday evening, the pre-labor ended and real labor began pretty definitively around 8:30pm. The first four hours or so were pretty manageable and I was able to set up the bed and pool with DH, and we made cupcakes. It progressed very quickly from every 9-10 minutes to every 6 or 7 minutes to only a few contractions 5 minutes apart and then a few 4 minutes apart. We called the midwife and doula around 1:15am, which is when I had to abandon the cupcake frosting for DH to finish while I went to get in the pool. I only lasted a few contractions in the pool before it got really uncomfortable to be in (that was a surprise). I had to go straddle the toilet and started feeling like I had to poop. Things went really fast from there, and all of a sudden I felt the urge to push, but the midwife and doula weren't here yet. DH called the midwife again and she told me to breathe through it and not push (yeah, right!). Finally, the doula arrived around 2:15 and the midwife around 2:30am. I was already pushy when they got here, but my water didn't break until I was going from the toilet to the bed around 2:20. Then I spent an hour or so really pushing, at first leaning back on the floor against the bed, then on my knees on the floor, bending over the side of the bed. He came out with his cord wrapped around both shoulders and his neck, but he was fine and breathed quickly. The last push sent his whole body flying out, though, without a pause between the head and shoulders. I had a bit of a hemorrhage after he came out, which the midwife thinks may have been from the cord pulling on the placenta and partially detaching it (he really went flying!). She gave me Cytotec suppositories and a methergine shot, and that dealt with it pretty quickly, although it looked like a war zone (hooray for plastic sheeting over the bed!). I also got a small labial tear that needed 2 stitches. About 20 minutes after he was born, he nursed for a solid hour, and he's been pretty reluctant to do anything but eat since then!
So, all in all, it was a pretty quick 7 hour labor and successful homebirth!
: He's sleeping now, finally, so I'm going to try to sleep too.
