Monday morning i was feeling really good. Had an appt with my midwife. My 6 yo told us the babies were coming tonight, no sign of labor though. After lunch i had to run to the store then another store. Walking through the first store i started getting pains in my hips. By the second place i was getting rhythmic pressure on my cervix. It felt like the baby's head was head butting me.

I always knew I wanted an unmedicated natural birth and started my pregnancy going to a stand alone midwife-run birth center.  Unfortunately, halfway through my pregnancy my insurance stopped accepting the midwives and I had to make the difficult choice to switch to an OB and deliver in a hospital.  My relationship started off great with the OB and he promised me the experience I wanted.  Towards the end of my pregnancy things changed and he started pushing interventions that I didn't feel were necessary.  I left my appointments feeling like I wasn't respected or listened to and this made me very anxious for labor and delivery.  Luckily, my husband is great with advocating for our wishes and I felt better knowing Rachel, our doula, would be there. I listened to positive affirmations and practiced deep breathing every night before bed. 

Our little Hadassah was due Monday, August 12th so at my midwife appointment on Thursday the 15th I asked her to go ahead and strip my membranes. By then I could tell my body had been working towards labor for a week, I was 3cm dilated, and I hoped if my body was ready a sweep could be the push over the edge to start real contractions.

7:30pm that very night I was calling my midwife to say I was having contractions 3-5mins apart and of good strength. My husband, Paul and I got back to the birth center (which was about 45mins away from our house) around 9:30pm.

For most of my pregnancy, I struggled with elevated blood pressure. At each appointment, it gradually kept rising. On March 9th I went in for a routine prenatal visit. My blood pressure was still elevated so my midwife decided that I needed to be induced on March 18th at thirty-seven weeks.

I had Braxton Hicks contractions starting at 17 weeks with this pregnancy. I was taking a lot of tinctures to keep them calm. (My first baby was born at 33+1, 9 hours after my water broke. My second was born at 35+5, 11 hours after my water broke and my third was born at 37+4, 15 hours after my water broke). At 37 weeks they randomly calmed down and I didn’t even need the tinctures anymore. But on Saturday, February 20, at 37+5, I did have a lot in the evening. Went to bed around 10pm. Woke at 11:30pm to pee, which was pretty typical. Right before I pulled my panties down my water broke. Water was clear. Took me a second to figure it out but then I was so excited! I get to meet Jemma today!!! I called my mother in law who was out of town to let her know. Texted everyone and put depends on and went to bed.

I’m the 6th of 10 kids, a middle child, and my mom was using midwives and having homebirths before it was trendy! Her advice to us girls has always been to relax, because babies come when they’re ready. My babies came at 41&3, 41&6, 40&4, so when #4’s due date came and went, I wasn’t surprised!

After three natural births, 2 at Mercy Birthing Center, I did think I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but THIS birth was full of twists and turns....LITERALLY.