I woke up at 1:45 on Tuesday morning to Ethan crawling into bed with us. I fell back asleep but at 2:30 I woke up again with some back pain. I couldn’t fall back asleep so I went to play on the computer. I started to feel contractions so I started timing them and was surprised to see that they were 3 minutes apart.

After 45 minutes I called the midwife on call to let her know what was going on. I was surprised to have her answer right away and she didn’t even sound tired. I would later find out that another woman was in labor with her first and had arrived at 1am that morning. She told me to continue to time them and when they continued to stay 3-5 minutes apart for a full hour to call back.

They continued so I woke up Joseph and told him I was going to take a shower. Ethan woke up and wouldn’t go back down so he and Joseph started watching Madagascar 2. I called the midwife, Brita, again and mentioned that they weren’t super intense. I also told her about my 8:30 appointment that morning and we both agreed to just have me come in then to see what was going on. She also assured me that she would be at the center so I could come in at any time if things changed.

By then it was 5am so we called Ann, my MIL, to see if we could drop Ethan off at 8am before my appointment and started getting ready for the day. We called Ann back a few minutes later to see if she could come pick Ethan up instead of us dropping him off. I continued having regular contractions and they started to feel a little more intense.

Ann came by at around 6:30 and Ethan was ready to jump in the car. I guess he knew what was going on to a degree and had no problem heading off with Grandma. Or he knew Papa was at Grandma’s and he wanted to play with him. He kissed us goodbye and was on his way…

By 7:50 we were in the car heading to the birthing center. On the drive over the contractions got more intense and maybe 2-3 minutes apart. But they were definitely bearable. We circled around to find un-metered parking since we didn’t know how long we would be there. I checked in at 8:30 and waited for the midwife. She was still with the woman who was in labor.

She came and got me at about 8:45 and had me pee in a cup. Then she measured the fundal height and checked Molly’s heartbeat. She then checked to see how dilated I was. She exclaimed “Wow!” And I asked if she felt Molly’s head thinking she was just responding to how low she was. She them told me I was 8cm dilated and fully effaced. OMG!

She admitted me at 8:50 and showed me my room. She asked if it were ok to have me in the back room since she had to go from the woman in the front room to me and going up the stairs may be harder. I had no preference and didn’t mind at all. She then asked if I wanted a water birth and I said I would try it. But when she drew the bath and I got in she quickly realized that I was too tall for the tub in the room. She assured me that we could move upstairs if needed and I told her that it wasn’t a problem.

I got out of the tub and started having contractions one after another with maybe 30 seconds of reprieve in between and asked the labor assistant when Brita was going to check me again. She ran to get Brita (she was w/ the other laboring woman) and when Brita checked me I was at 10. I quickly got on the bed to allow them to check the baby’s heartbeat since they couldn’t find it while I was swaying at the bedside trying to get through the intense contractions.

Brita also told me the only thing holding back Molly was my bag of waters so I asked shat would happen when she broke it. She smiled and said that as soon as I started pushing the bag should break on its own.

By this time I really don’t think I knew exactly how close I was to having this baby. I got on my hands and knees and began pushing with the next contraction. Next thing I knew my water broke. The midwife asked if this was how I wanted to push her out and I told her I had no clue. She tried to get a reading on the Baby M’s heartbeat but couldn’t find it in the position I was in so she asked if I could turn around for just a second. I got slightly on my side and put my leg up on her shoulder.

I was ready to push this baby out and push her out now. I started pushing and the midwife asked if I was pushing with a contraction. I told her I had no idea when the contractions were coming, I just needed her out now. She than felt my stomach and would tell me when to push. She and Joseph both told me how strong I was and how close I was to meeting my daughter. The midwife asked if I wanted to see or feel her and I quickly turned her down quickly (I guess I am pretty mean and snappy when I am in pain) and just wanted to focus on pushing.

I felt the midwife’s hands and didn’t understand why Molly wasn’t out yet. Later on I would find out that the midwife just wanted to help prevent any damage with her coming so fast. I finally was at the point where her head was crowning and with the burning ring of fire I felt all I could think about was getting her out. With two pushes after that she was out. As soon as her little body was out, she was on my chest. The midwife looked at the clock and told us she was born at 9:45.

I was shocked at how fast it all went! In less than an hour from being admitted I was holding my little girl. The midwife later on mentioned that she thinks my body just went for it after she told me I was 8cm since I had such a huge grin on my face after she told me.

Molly latched on as soon as she cleared out her lungs with some screaming and nursed for a good 30-45 minutes. I had a 2nd degree tear so as I got stitched up Joseph got some skin-to-skin time with Molly. More to come about big brother Ethan meeting his sister for the first time…

Looking to give birth at a birthing center and live in San Diego? Check out my review of Best Start Birth Center San Diego here.