The Arrival of Victor Frederick

Thursday evening, I enjoyed a mom’s night out with some friends. After returning home, I chatted with my husband and got a snack. I then noticed some contractions and pelvic pressure but thought they were just Braxton Hicks so drank some water, put my feet up for a few minutes and went to bed. I couldn’t fall asleep as the contractions seemed somewhat consistent and rhythmic. I took a bath around 1230am thinking that it would help me relax and go to sleep. After lying back down for a little longer, I concluded that this was probably real labor. I woke my husband up around 2am and asked him to help me time contractions. They were consistently every 4 minutes apart lasting about 1 min and hard to ignore. My husband began getting the birthing pool ready while squeezing my hips with each contraction and by about 330am, Christi, our doula, was on her way. My water broke around 4am so we called the midwife. Christi arrived shortly after. She helped my husband get things ready and provided support to me. My contractions felt much more intense and strong and I experienced a lot of pressure. I got into the lovely warm water right before the midwife arrived. When I saw her, I asked if I could push. She said yes and two pushes later, our little boy emerged into the world, shortly before 5am. Our toddler woke up about a half hour later and we all enjoyed breakfast in bed as we snuggled with the new addition to our family!