My husband and I headed out for our parenting class, when I told him to go back home because I did not feel well. I was 36 weeks pregnant with my second child and feeling a little crampy. At home I spent an hour or so taking a shower and walking around the house. Finally, I told my husband that I wanted to go to the hospital because the contractions were getting closer. He threw our stuff in the car and made it to the hospital in 15 minutes, which was a record time. I had one hard contraction in the parking lot and told my husband to hurry. In the elevator, people looked at us strangely as I had another hard contraction. Once we got on the labor and delivery floor, I wondered if it was really labor since I felt normal and could talk to the nurse happily. It was 9 pm. They put me in the room and then came to check my dilation. They were surprised to find me 10 cm dilated and I was too. I kept telling myself that I was just in early labor. The next few steps happened very quickly as I was rushed to the OR to deliver in case I needed a c-section with my breech baby. I was a little frantic as I could not process what was happening and they took my husband away from me to put him in scrubs. I remember holding his hand while contracting and then suddenly finding my hand was empty and feeling confused. In the operating room I was on a skinny surgical bed that was hard and I felt like I would fall off. Everyone in the room was very busy getting stuff prepped and everyone ignored me when I asked for help since the contractions were coming every few minutes and I was stuck on my back looking up at the ceiling. A nurse came over and gave me a pillow and told me to get a grip on my breathing and contractions. I finally calmed down after having someone come and focus on me. The perinatologist, Dr. O'Brian, also came in and did an ultrasound. Baby was still frank breech, but she was in textbook position and even turned her head the right direction. They put my feet up in stirrups and my husband came back into the room to hold me hand. Dr. O'Neil, my OBGYN, told me that I could go ahead and push now. First, they gave me an episiotomy. I then gave a push and her bottom came out. The doctors flipped her legs out of me and then helped cork screw her head out. It was 9:15. I was excited for it all to be over and for my baby to be ok. They checked her out and said that all was well except that her legs would stay up by her head for the next couple of weeks since she was breech for so long in pregnancy. This labor was faster and easier than my first baby who was head down. I never felt that burning ring of fire. I just felt pressure and then she was born.

This was my 9th pregnancy and I felt like it would be my last one. I was trying to enjoy the last few weeks of my pregnancy, but I had several bouts of heavy bleeding and it was hard to stay peaceful. On Sunday (9am) we were in church and I felt a little grumpy and tired of being pregnant. I had a friend tell me she had dreamed that I had given birth. That lifted my spirits. My son was also singing happy birthday for no reason. I sat in church with my doula next to me and my friend touched my head. I grumped at her and my doula told me I was in labor and it was time to go home (11 am). I thought she was silly, but decided to humor her because I felt achy and did not want to be around people. My husband, kids, and doula went home and I have about 3 contractions while driving the 20 minutes home. Once home I crawled into bed to rest while my husband organized the kids to eat lunch. While in bed I had 2 contractions and my body told me to go to the hospital. Grumpily, I got up and walked down to the car. My doula and husband were surprised to see me willingly going to the car, so they hurried and jumped in with me. We drove to Vanderbilt University Hospital and I had a couple of contractions, but nothing intense. I kind of felt silly going to the hospital. I had a contraction getting out of the car, in the elevator, and one more as I walked into triage. The nurses at triage sent me straight to labor and delivery. I was surprised, but glad I could skip triage. My next contraction was really strong and I had to squat to relieve the intensity. The nurse would not take us to our room until we filled out our demographic paper. I told my husband to hurry! They then took us to room 6. I changed into a gown and then sat on the bed to be monitored and checked. I was 6 cm and 100% effaced. I was in labor and did not know it! It was now 5:20 pm. It was now 5:20 pm The anesthesiologist came into talk to me about epidurals. I had another contraction and rolled to my side and moaned through it. I instinctively tried to bite, but my husband said, "Don't bite me!" I suddenly stopped and then realized the doctor was still talking. She tired to get me to sign the form, but I couldn't because the contractions were requiring my focus. On the next contraction I felt like pushing and just let my body do it. The nurse asked my doula if I was pushing. My doula said, "Yes, get the doctor. " The Dr. rushed in and told me to turn on my back so she could check me. I refused since my contractions were worse when I sat down. Instead I turned on my hands on knees. My doula said, "Just check her like that." The Dr. said, "I can do that?" My doula said, "Yes!" The Dr. checked me and said, "Head!" She then told me to turn and lay on my back. I refused again and my doula whispered, "You can do this. Listen to your body. Do what your body says." On my next contraction I pushed the baby out. She was born at 5:39 pm. The baby gave a good cry and the Dr. let the cord pulse 2 minutes before offering my husband a chance to cut it. I told them about what I wanted regarding vitamin k and the other shots. Then, I turned over to hold my sweet new baby. They also offered me cytotec to control if I started to bleed. I refused and they looked surprised. I told them to wait and they could do it if I did start to bleed alot, but I did not want anything for "just in case." What a crazy fast birth! I did not even have time to take my socks off because I was thinking I had several more hours of labor. I guess not....

For our 10th child we finally decided to have a homebirth. I was a little nervous since all my other babies were born at the hospital. But, I knew that I wanted a birth that was different and peaceful and a homebirth sounded perfect. Since my past labors were fast, my midwife took time to teach my husband what to do during a delivery in case he was alone. I just thought, "You guys are silly. Of course my midwife will be there." On 9/29 I went into labor. The midwife came over and told me I was only 4 cm, but she was worried that baby was not head down. I freaked out and prayed that my labor would stop, which it did. The, we went to an ultrasound where they confirmed that baby was breech and not head down. I spent the next several days feeling anxious, crying, and trying to flip the baby head down. On 10/10 I finally gave up and told the Lord to let me labor be whatever it needs to be. On 10/11 I woke up at 2 am to go potty. While on the potty I had a contraction. I tried to go back to sleep, but was feeling achy. My husband woke up and asked if I was ok. I told him to go back to sleep and that all was well. He told me, "I am not going to listen to you since I have been here before. I am going to call the midwife." I rolled my eyes at him and said, "It is just one contraction. Let's wait and see how far apart they are." On my next contraction I realized that it was stronger and they were 3-4 minutes apart. I told my husband to fill up the tub which he quickly did as soon as he hung up with the midwife. As soon as I stepped in the tub, all my achiness went away. I felt great! My midwife called and asked us to keep her on speaker phone. I reached down and could feel my bag of waters bulging. I got on my knees and told my husband that baby was coming. On my next contraction I felt like pushing and I could feel baby moving down. My husband said, "The bag of water is intact and I can see the baby's butt." On My next contraction I pushed again, but when the contraction passed instinct told me to keep pushing. My midwife yelled over the phone, "What is happening? Talk to me!" I felt the bag break and the feet flip out towards the bottom of the tub. Next, the body and the head slid out. My husband put his hands in the water to catch the baby. He took the cord off his neck where it was wrapped 2 times just as the midwife had taught him to do during our prenatal visit. My husband took the baby out of the water and laid him on my chest at 2:37 am where I rubbed the baby and he started to cry. We were both so amazed! Over the speakerphone the midwife asked us to add warm water and to see if baby was pink. At 2:45 am the paramedics turned up and wanted to cut the cord, but I refused and I knew my midwife would be there soon. Unknown to me, my oldest child went and woke up all the kids to tell them that the baby was born, but they all told him they did not care and wanted to go back to sleep. I later chucked when I heard that. Anyway, our midwife soon got there and sent the paramedics and fire truck away. Next, her crew let me cut the cord and helped me get out of the tub. We spent the next several hours chatting and admiring baby. I was so impressed by how quickly they cleaned up everything. I even saw my midwife scrubbing the tub herself! They were such a great nurturing support team. God blessed me to have a wonderful birth and I am grateful He helped me find a great midwife like Heather Munoz at Nova Birth Services. My birth might be exactly as I envisioned it, but I had all that I needed at the moment I needed it. My husband now jokes that he is a midwife (or midhusband)and has more breech birth experience than most OB's.