Samara Jade was born on May 24th, at 12:27 am after a VERY intense labor. She's a little pipsqueak at 6 pounds, 4 inches long and 20 inches long. She's absolutely a doll (although having a little trouble getting this nursing thing down), and looks just like her mama.
Our birth story:
My water broke at 2:30 am on the 23rd. At 11:30, dh and I went for a long walk, and I started to have mild contractions at 12:30. These were very manageable and continued every 3-5 minutes until 4:30. At 4:30, things stalled a bit--contractions went to every 10 minutes or so, and got shorter and milder. I took a shower and went to sleep. Woke up at 9 pm with more serious contractions. For about an hour, they were intense but manageable--mw said to wait at least another hour before coming in so things didn't stall; at around 10 things got much more serious--contractions very close together and difficult to deal with. At 11, we called to say we were coming in. Turns out we may have waiting a bit too long. I went through transition in the car--I REALLY don't recommend this.
By the time we got to the birth center, half an hour later, I was just about pushing. Pushing contractions were NOTHING like what I expected--rather than having long breaks between them, they were right on top of each other (about a minute apart). As for coached pushing--ha! I couldn't have not pushed if I wanted to. She came out after just half an hour or so of pushing, bright-eyed, pink, alert, and perfect. Our mw provided absolutely amazing support, I couldn't have asked for better care. We had all our post-partum checks, ate some food, rested, and by 4:30 am, we were back on the road home.
All in all, it was a great, but totally unexpected and intense first labor (water breaking, speed of "real" labor, etc.).
Our birth story:
My water broke at 2:30 am on the 23rd. At 11:30, dh and I went for a long walk, and I started to have mild contractions at 12:30. These were very manageable and continued every 3-5 minutes until 4:30. At 4:30, things stalled a bit--contractions went to every 10 minutes or so, and got shorter and milder. I took a shower and went to sleep. Woke up at 9 pm with more serious contractions. For about an hour, they were intense but manageable--mw said to wait at least another hour before coming in so things didn't stall; at around 10 things got much more serious--contractions very close together and difficult to deal with. At 11, we called to say we were coming in. Turns out we may have waiting a bit too long. I went through transition in the car--I REALLY don't recommend this.
By the time we got to the birth center, half an hour later, I was just about pushing. Pushing contractions were NOTHING like what I expected--rather than having long breaks between them, they were right on top of each other (about a minute apart). As for coached pushing--ha! I couldn't have not pushed if I wanted to. She came out after just half an hour or so of pushing, bright-eyed, pink, alert, and perfect. Our mw provided absolutely amazing support, I couldn't have asked for better care. We had all our post-partum checks, ate some food, rested, and by 4:30 am, we were back on the road home.All in all, it was a great, but totally unexpected and intense first labor (water breaking, speed of "real" labor, etc.).
) and welcome Samara! 
Congratulations!!
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