I awoke Sunday morning, the 2nd of September at 6:45am. Three days past my due date. I immediately sensed the presence of a bloody, mucousy show and hauled my big self to the bathroom. There was indeed a lot of show, and a clot-like glob of bloody stuff fell into the toilet. Since it took a week from bloody show to delivery with Gabriela, I didn’t get overly excited. I went back to bed and slept until 9.

All day long I had bloody show, diarrhea, and irregular contractions (as I had from about month 5 of the pregnancy). Jaime went to Whole Foods to buy noshes for the midwives and my postpartum meal (steak), just in case this “was it.” We told my parents not to stray too far in case. However, I really didn’t think this was labor. I watched Pride and Prejudice on DVD, had a nice nap (should have slept longer!!) and we took a walk to the woods and ballpark after dinner. Gabriela went to bed a little later than usual, and Jaime and I hung out in front of the TV. The contractions kept coming; 20 minutes, 6 minutes, 10 minutes apart. Nothing too regular, but they didn’t stop. At 11, I phoned the midwife on call, Erin Fulham, to let her know that there was a remote chance that I was in early labor. She advised going to bed and calling her if things got interesting.

Sleep was clearly going to be impossible. Things got very uncomfortable as soon as I laid down, and the contractions were now between 6 and 10 minutes apart. I called Erin again at 1:30, and she advised a bath to see if things slowed down and to call her when the pains were regularly 5 minutes apart for a half an hour. By 3am they were 3-5 minutes apart and Erin said she was on her way. I then called Wendy Wyatt, the birth assistant.

I spent a good part of the labor leaning against the bed’s footboard “doing the hula.” Rotating my hips in a figure eight while standing really felt good. One thing I tried and hated was sitting on the exercise ball. I lasted 2 seconds there and then demanded it be taken far from my sight. Laboring on the toilet felt equally terrible. Standing, or sitting in my Granny’s rocker facing the open window were my positions of choice. Jaime provided excellent support and massage the entire time. In the rocker, I was able to watch the nighttime street and feel the coolish air between contractions. I saw Erin pull up at 3:45 (I’m getting these times from my copy of the labor and birth flow sheet—time is so distorted in labor that I really had no sense of it). Wendy came 15 minutes later and they watched me labor for a while, assuring me that my body knew how to birth my baby and all was well. Erin palpated my belly to verify that the baby was head down. I did not receive one single internal exam during the labor; this was especially good because of my + group B strep status.

At 4:45 I sat in my rocker and got my hep lock IV and one and only dose of ampicillin. This time I had no excess refrigerated fluids along with the antibiotics to leave me shivering and with a swollen bladder that required painful catheterization. This time I was trusted to keep myself hydrated. Since it was the middle of the night, I felt no need to eat, especially after having had 2 large pieces of Jaime’s leftover birthday cake a t 9pm the previous evening…

With a gloved and taped down hep lock, I made my way to the kiddie pool at about 5am. Jaime had filled it with wonderful warm water using an aquarium hose hooked up to the bathroom sink. He had put the pool on the screened porch, so I was essentially outside, but protected from mosquitoes. The water was heaven for 20 minutes or so, then transition hit. I announced to Jaime and Wendy that I had to throw up, then spent a surreal few minutes hanging over the side of the tub trying not to throw up while they scrambled for a receptacle. In the end, no throw up. Chewing some gum did help with the annoying excess salivation. I continued to have a ton of mucous discharge while in the tub. When, at 5:55, I announced that I had to POOP, Wendy said “okay, time to get out of the tub.” I knew she thought that I was getting close to delivery, but I didn’t believe her. In my laborland mindset, I thought I really did have to poop. Jaime helped me maneuver out of the tub gingerly, so as not to strain my pelvis, and they wrapped me in my bathrobe.

The walk back to the bathroom took a while. Contractions were 2 minutes apart, and I had to stop for a couple. I finally made it to the toilet and sat for a split second before declaring that I hated the toilet. Wendy agreed with me—not a fun position for labor. On my way to the bed, I was hit with a tsunami contraction and hung onto Erin for dear life. Everyone supported me so beautifully, just thinking about it now makes me start to cry. They helped me onto the bed, and I remember thinking “it can’t be time to push already!” According to the labor record, I am quoted as saying “The baby’s coming!” at 6:25. I could really feel him move down. I reached down to assess the state of things at my nether region (I was afraid of tearing into my clitoris, but didn’t), and felt inside. I screamed out “it’s the sac!” It hadn’t occurred to me that my water still hadn’t broken, and there it was, hanging out of my vagina like a water balloon. Erin commented that the water was nice and clear; free of meconium. The baby’s heart rate was great the entire labor. He just wanted to be born in the caul, like coming out on a slip and slide. Between pushes I noticed that it was starting to get light outside. I had no concept whatsoever of time.

By this time, my mom was in the living room, awaiting the call to come see the delivery. Boy, did we underestimate the timeline. I had originally wanted Gabriela to be there, but it was just so fast and intense, I wasn’t sure if I could handle that. I’m sure she would have been fine! Mom later told me that I was screaming “Get it out, oh god help me!!”

Now, this pushing was completely different from my labor with Gabriela. I did not push, some force within my body did it. It was intense; I was completely not in control of it. It just overcame me and my body pushed. For several days afterwards, I wandered around exclaiming “that was insane!” At this point, a passage from Spiritual Midwifery popped into my head: “let your monkey do it.” I guess I uttered this during the pushing, because Erin later asked me “what was that you were saying about a monkey?”

Anyway, out his head came, pop went the forewaters, “Mom, get in here!” screamed I. In mom came. She said hi, and that she loved me and then sat out of the way in the rocker. I told her to shut up. (Sorry mom) At 6:42, Erin told me to reach down and take my baby, which I did. He was born and I was so,so, so happy. Apgars were 9 and 10. The cord was short (like his sister’s). He was on my belly, crying softly, and we covered him with a blanket until Gabi could discover the sex for us. Mom got her, sleepy-eyed, out of bed and she calmly announced “it’s a boy” then said “it’s stinky in here.”

Yes, amniotic fluid is kind of stinky. Oliver’s body had acted like a cork in a champagne bottle. After the small forewaters broke and his body came out, the bulk of the waters were still behind him, and gushed out, soaking everyone. Erin actually had to change her clothes.

Erin invited us to feel his cord pulsating, which was very cool. Jaime cut it after the pulsating stopped, (Go Jaime!) and I was finally able to get a good look at him. He was delicious and very clean, having stayed in his watery sack!!! He had a mild amount of vernix, hairy shoulders and ears, big feet, and an impossible cowlick. (Sorry Oliver) He was nursing beautifully within ½ hour of his birth. Then we had to deal with the placenta, which came out at 7:18. I sooo did not want to make any effort to push it out. I had some red raspberry leaf tea with honey to help things along. The placenta just kind of sat in my vagina until I had a contraction and gave a good push. The relief was instant. Erin examined it, noticed some calcification (I’ll have to ask her about that at my next appointment), but declared it a very healthy placenta. Gabriela got a good look at it—she had been dying to see where the baby had been living inside my tummy. Erin collected cord blood to test Oliver’s blood type. It ended up being O+, so at my post-partum visit I got another Rhogam injection. At this point, Sparky (my father) called to say that he was making a Starbucks run and did the birth team want anything? They looked pretty psyched at this news, having been awake all night.

I eventually gave the baby to Jaime, and got up to try out my pelvis. It was wobbly, but blessedly intact! I think the quick delivery and consistent chiropractic treatments helped. I showered while Wendy cleaned up and changed the sheets. She dried me off and I tried to pee (couldn’t achieve this until 8:30), and had apple juice, toast and scrambled eggs. Then we had to address the question of my parts. There was a 1st degree tear, which required 2 stitches. After my last experience with stitches, I needed to be convinced that the benefit would outweigh the potential pain of the sewing. To her credit, Erin didn’t insist on them, but gently provided me with the information I needed to hear to make the decision. I put my ipod on a hypnobirthing relaxation track, grabbed Wendy and Jaime’s hands and braced myself. Erin used a spray to numb the region, then gave me the injection. The anesthetic hurt, but it worked! I didn’t feel the pain of the stitches, just some pulling. Halleluja.

Oliver’s exam came last. He was weighed with a fish scale: 8lbs 13oz. He was 21 inches long and had a 14 ¾ inch head diameter. He was pink and gorgeous and had a dimple above his little butt. My sweet boy. He got his vitamin K injection and eye ointment. Jaime diapered and dressed him. Wendy and Erin left at 10:30ish, both giving me hugs and telling me what I good job I had done.

I am so happy with this birth. I think many factors came into play to make it this beautiful. I was able to surrender completely to the labor. I knew that resistance was futile. Instead of saying no to the contractions, I actually verbalized “yes” with each one. YES became my birth mantra. The labor was blessedly short. I believe this was because I was able to birth as befits my mammalian status. In the dark, in the safety of my own space, with my neocortex turned off. The rational me was absent.

So now we have our gorgeous boy, and he is delightful, brilliant and sweet. Gabriela loves him dearly, and has only said once “We should put him back in your belly!”

—Emily Estrada