I had been having contractions off and on and generally feeling terrible since 38 weeks. The closer I got to my due date contractions would start at night and then fizzled out by morning. It didn’t help that the baby kept rolling from side to side every morning. I was doing everything I could to get her to settle on my left and stay there!

On October 13th I was two days away from my due date. My mom had been staying with us for two weeks so she could be with Margot when I went into labor. That morning we decided to go for a walk since the weather was nice. I had heard about curb walking so I decided to try it to see if anything would start. If nothing else it helped get the baby back to my left side!

The rest of the afternoon I sat on a yoga ball and circled my hips to get the baby lower in my pelvis so she would stay in place. I started watching Harry Potter with Margot but we only got about an half way through before it was her bed time. I put Margot to bed at 8:00pm and went upstairs around 9:00pm. I turned the lights out at 9:30pm and I wasn’t even asleep yet when contractions started up hard around 10:00pm.

At 11:00pm I went downstairs to tell Matt contractions were about ten minutes apart and I thought I was in labor. He came upstairs around 11:30pm to try to get some sleep before we had to go to the hospital. I tried to get some sleep as well but it proved futile with contractions waking me up every ten minutes or so.

By 2:00am it was too uncomfortable to stay in bed and I knew I needed to get up and move. I went back downstairs to sit on the ball and watch some more Harry Potter.

At 3:00am it was getting harder to concentrate so I went upstairs to take a quick shower and wake Matt up. I finished gathering my things for the hospital and woke my mom up. We sat in the living room a while longer while Matt called the hospital to let them know we were coming in. We left the house around 3:45am and arrived at the hospital at 4:00am. The ride to the hospital was not easy!

After arriving in the emergency room a nurse from labor and delivery came to take us to triage. I was still managing through contractions but I really wanted to get into the jacuzzi. We had to be monitored for about 30 minutes in triage and I was so happy to hear I was already at 5cm!

We were taken to our room around 4:30am and after another 30 minutes of monitoring I was able to go to the tub room! I stripped down and got in while Matt got some wash cloths to pour water over my back. I wasn’t comfortable laying back so I stayed on my knees and leaned forward in the tub. At this point I was shaking and having a really hard time getting through contractions. After 30 minutes I told Matt I was gonna be sick and he pulled a trash can over. Before I had the chance to throw up I had another contraction and felt a lot of pressure. I immediately told Matt I had to get out. He called our nurse and helped me get dry and dressed and we went back to the room.

On our way to the room I had a contraction that made me bear down. Basically every time I breathed out it turned into a grunt and I couldn’t help from pushing. We got in the room and I hopped up on the bed and with the next contraction my water broke. Our nurse called in the midwife. I still had a hospital gown covering my backside. The midwife wanted to check me to make sure I was at 10cm but with the next contraction I could feel the baby coming out! They lifted the gown and her head was right there! The next contraction her head was out! One more final contraction and Ella Jane was born!

It was 5:57am – we had only been at the hospital for two hours. Ella weighed 7lbs and 6oz and was 20.5” long. She came out so fast she still had fluid in her lungs. She gave a tiny cry but she had to be taken over to the warmer and the NICU team was called in. Matt went over by Ella while I got stitched up (two small tears). She had fuzzy blonde hair and he let me know she had ten fingers and ten toes.

In the end she needed some extra oxygen so she did have to go to the NICU for 48 hours. It was so hard – my heart goes out to families that have to spend an extended amount of time in the NICU. We didn’t get to hold her much until she was 24 hours old and she didn’t get to nurse until the second night. I’m happy I was able to pump and give her colostrum and when she was finally able to nurse she latched right on. Now she’s doing great and gained two pounds in her first month!

We are so in love with this little girl and navigating life as a family of four!