Warning! Birth photos included below, all privacy kept though!
As much fun as 2:30am can be, and trying not to get my hopes up after all, all the birth classes said that this stage lasts for hours, I relented at 3:30am and woke my husband up. I needed just a little bit of company whilst I tracked really wide apart contractions. And also to have someone agree with me that I was finally feeling contractions and that it wasn’t in my mind.
We talked and he rubbed my back, I rolled myself on my gym ball and drank water. The cats were both confused about why we were up and lights on in the middle of the night.
Around 4:30am my lower back was really beginning to ache, I needed more back rubs and in my head I was thinking “birth classes said yo don’t want back labor because it hurts ALOT!”
5am we paged the midwives to just talk it through, I felt guilty at speaking to Melissa so early but we really weren’t sure if things were normal. I told her I had tracked contractions and they were anything from 3 minutes to 22 minutes apart and not lasting more than 30 seconds. This is why we were confused. Birth classes said that they increase in length and decrease in time apart…mine just weren’t doing that. Melissa mentioned calling our doula and getting her out to help with pain management and to keep her updated in a few hours.
It was still so early and we didn’t want to call Muna out if this could take hours, so we held on. I don’t really remember what happened from about 5:30am onwards but I believe hubby send a sms to Muna to let her know we will be calling at some point but no rush yet.
We were both in the living room, walking around talking about whether to ring Muna or not, maybe I wanted the tens machine but I didn’t want to waste her time and then I had a need to pee! Did not make it to the bathroom, I did not need to pee.
Again, birth classes all said “it doesn’t happen like in the movies. Your waters don’t break in a huge gush and then you start delivery.”
At 6am; my waters broke just like the movies. I ended up on the floor and pushing. Thank you birth classes for preparing me for this *sarcastic*. I have a vague recollection of hubby calling the Melissa the midwife back, very urgently and him being told to get me in the bed and on my side and not to push. He rang Muna who was on her way and he rang Nicole our photographer too who said okay! My importance was for the birth tub to be filled, I really wanted to be in the water. My SIL spoke really highly of her water birth.
I remember Muna arriving, it was such a happy occasion…her face and then water! I think around 6:30/40am, closely followed by Melissa and her team, Gracie (student midwife) and Stephanie (birth assistant).
Then things blur, and this is why I am so very thankful for having Nicole and her camera there. I could match the photos with the in-depth notes from Stephanie, I was able to look back and see that still my contractions did not reach 1 minute in length.
Here are some photos of our birth story, I love each and every one of them. These are the ones which can be found on Nicole’s website too. I never got into the birth tub, it wasn’t ready in time. Instead I used the birthing stool, and our bed.
Muna cutting her first cord 
Little Miss A was born at 8:10am so a very quick labor and delivery, 2:30am wake up, baby in arms at 8:10am, everyone had left by 11am and it was just the three of us cozy in bed.
Once we had had a snooze and rest, hubby headed to the store to pick up a birthday cake and some sushi as not only did Little Miss arrive but she decided to share her birthday with me. ❤️
- Nicole Griswold www.nicolegriswold.com Birth, Newborn and Family Photographer
- Muna Habib www.munamydoula.com Birth and postpartum doula
- Snohomish Midwives www.snohomishmidwives.com Melissa, Siri, Stephanie and Gracie (student midwife).
The Gordon's Miscellany 
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