After being at 4cm/75% effaced/-1 station for THREE weekly midwife appts, I was sure I was never going to go into active labor... Until I woke up early Saturday morning. It was very strange, I woke up disoriented, noticed it was 1:38am, went to the bathroom and got back in bed. A little while later, as DH was finally coming to bed, I woke up with a very strong surge - I looked at the clock and it was exactly 1:38. I'm not sure if the first time I woke up was a dream or what...? (I had a similar experience when I woke up in labor with DS - I dreamt my water broke and when I jumped out of bed it hadn't, but I was having strong surges. Weird, huh?) Anyway, the surges continued at about 6 minutes apart, then down to 4 minutes apart and I decided this must really be labor. I called the practice and the midwife on call called me back and we chatted for a minute - it was about 2:30 by this point. My regular midwife did not have childcare until the morning, so the midwife on call (who is BRAND NEW - I hadn't even met her yet) was going to meet me at the hospital and my regular midwife would come in the morning if I was still in labor. At this point things were soooo intense already - DH was getting stuff ready for the trip to the hospital and I told him that I was going to the bathroom and when I came out we were leaving, so he better make sure that his mom and DS were ready - and they were! The 12-minute drive to the hospital got more and more intense and I was actually starting to feel a lot of pressure and I was afraid I was going to start pushing. DH ran me up to L&D in a wheelchair (literally) and then went back down to get MIL and DS, park the car, bring in our bags, and call my sister who was 1.5 hours away to tell her to come - she was supposed to be my doula. Meanwhile I was in the hospital room trying to get comfortable and a nurse checked me and declared me 6cm. I was a little worried at that point because I couldn't imagine several more hours at that level of intensity. After another contraction, a different nurse checked me to give a second opinion and she looked at the first nurse like she was nuts and said I was 7-8 cm! I went to the bathroom and then came back to sit on the ball as DH got back, and things kept amping up in intensity. MIL and DS poked their heads in, but MIL could tell it was too intense of a situation and so she and DS walked around L&D and played. All of a sudden, during a contraction when the nurses were trying to convince me to get on the bed so they could monitor the baby for a few minutes, my water broke and I felt the head descend A LOT! There was meconinum in the water so they really rushed me up onto the bed at that point to get an external monitor on the baby. I think it was at this point that they checked me and I was complete. So, I think I basically went from 6cm to complete in about 20 minutes, and at that point the urge to push was starting. I wanted to avoid active pushing as long as possible to save my energy (since I pushed for 2.5 hours with DS and ended up with an episiotomy), so I was on my side in the bed breathing through contractions and trying to stay relaxed and let my uterus do the work. After a couple contractions like that, though, I couldn't stop from pushing. I heard them page the ER on-call doctor, as my midwife hadn't arrived yet. They also paged the NICU team (since there had been meconium) and then the room filled up. I still couldn't believe that I was actually going to deliver soon, as I'd been as the hospital only about half an hour. Honestly, I was scared because I KNEW I couldn't handle several hours of this pushing. BUT, all of a sudden the nurses helped me get my legs up into stirrups and the doctor was massaging my perinium and I could feel the baby starting to crown! The midwife rushed in - litterally throwing her coat on the floor! - and rushed over to take over, she started to introduce herself and I just held up a hand to silence her, ROARED at the top of my lungs, and the baby's head started to emerge. My contraction stopped, she told me to wait for the next one so my uterus could do the work for me, and with that contraction the baby's head came out. She asked me to stop pushing so she could suction the nose and mouth before the body was delivered and I somehow managed to, then pushed the baby's body out. DH announced that it was Ellie - a girl! - and then he got to cut the cord! The NICU team checked her out immediately, and I introduced myself to the midwife then. Within a few minutes I delivered the placenta, the midwife checked me, and announced I had one VERY minor tear that would require only one stitch. I was thrilled! MIL brought DS in and he was very unsure about this baby thing, but happilly curled up in bed with me and started nursing. They brought Ellie to me and she latched right on and nursed for the next hour and a half... My sister arrived about an hour after Ellie was born and was quite dissapointed she had missed the birth. The nurses all told me that next time I had a baby I better come in THE MOMENT I think I might be in labor - or else the next baby could be born in the car! (We're joking that DH needs to take some EMT classes or we need to find a midwife who lives on our street!)
Here are pictures of everything AFTER the birth - there was no time to get out the camera during birth! Introducing Ellie!
Here are pictures of everything AFTER the birth - there was no time to get out the camera during birth! Introducing Ellie!
Oh mama!!! 
I'm so happy everything went well and that you and Killian and sweet baby Ellie are doing wonderfully. 
Congrats on such a SPEEDY delivery and beautiful daughter!!! 
