Thanks everyone!
Here is a synopsis (or rather a novel! Sorry so long.):
Around 5:30 or 6 PM I started feeling some fairly regular contractions. Not painful, but I started timing them. Fairly quickly they were about every 6 minutes, but still not painful. I told the kids that I thought this might be the night, but we waited to call the mid-wife.
I read the kids the 3 books we have about homebirth for about 30-45 minutes and then we called the mid-wife at 7:15 to give her the heads-up (they are about an hour away). She told me to call back if I had bloody show, if my water broke, or if the contractions became painful. I took the kids outside to play (even though it was dark and they were already in their pajamas!). I really needed them as a distraction early in labor. We were out in the yard for about 45 minutes throwing a ball around, writing on the driveway with chalk, walking around, swinging on the swing, etc. Just before 8 PM I decided I should head back inside.
I called my mom and sister and told them that I was fairly sure that tonight was the night. At this point the contractions were still 5-6 minutes apart, but within 20 minutes they got much closer, about 2-4 minutes apart and were becoming painful. Around 8:20, dh called the midwives and they said they would head out. We put the kids to bed and told them that we would wake them up when the baby was coming, thinking it would probably be early morning. I proceeded to make phone calls and then hopped in the shower just before 9 PM.
After the shower, I got into bed and dh did some relaxation therapy with me. Our youngest couldn't sleep and came into bed with me. She laid with me through many contractions and then dh took her back to her bed around 9:20. The mid-wife apprentice arrived at about 9:25 and the 2 mid-wives got here just after. They did all of my vitals, listened to the baby's heartbeat and did an internal exam. I was 5 cm, which was discouraging at the time. I decided to walk around the house for awhile.
After about 20 minutes, I decided to get into the tub. It was around 10 PM. I was leary because I didn't want the tub to slow my labor, but I needed some pain relief. The mid-wives came in once and monitored the baby's heartbeat through a contraction. Then they went back out to the living room. I labored on my own with dh saying relaxing words. I had the jets on for awhile, and I liked to submerge myself when I felt a contraction. I liked the sound of the jets and the water, and didn't care to hear any outside distractions. I kept my eyes closed for the most part, too. Around 10:15 my water broke, in the water. That was a strange sensation.
From then on, the contractions were very painful. I started to make some strange sounds and got to a point where I was very vocal (which I have not been in past labors). The mid-wives must have heard sounds that they recognized as "the end is near" because everyone mobilized. Dh called the neighbor, who came and woke the kids. Before I knew it, I had the kids, dh, the 3 mid-wives and the neighbor in my bathroom!!!!
I felt a contraction that was incredibly painful, I reached between my legs and felt the head coming down. I was completely unaware of the fact that I was pushing. My mind was elsewhere, my body took over. The next contraction, the head came out. {The mid-wife told my dh, "Look, the head" and he was in shock. It was so different than any of our prior deliveries. No one checked me to see if I was complete, no one told me to start pushing. They had complete faith in my body.} During the same contraction, the whole baby flew out. I remember thinking, I don't want to deal with another contraction, this baby is coming out now! He was born at 10:43 PM, just over an hour after the mid-wives arrived.
The homebirth was amazing. It was everthing that I could have hoped for. I was completely in control. The baby is healthy as can be, no complications with either of us. The mid-wives were extremely uninvolved in the labor. They really left me to do my own thing. During transition I was asking them to help me (I got desperate), but I think they knew there wasn't anything they could do.
It was so nice to climb into my bed with my children surrounding me. So nice to be in the comforts of my own home. The kids stayed up for hours after he was born (we were all on an adrenaline rush!). They put on their big brother/big sisters shirts that they had made. They helped the mid-wives dress Baby Georgie and took turns holding him. After the mid-wives left, they set up blankets and pillows on our bedroom floor and slowly drifted off to sleep. Dh and I fell asleep with huge smiles on our faces. Glad to have our baby safe and sound, glad to have had the homebirth that we wanted, and so thankful to have our family complete!
Follow Mothering