weston's birth story | part one

May first. It was the first day of my maternity leave and the months and weeks leading up to this day had been stressful and overwhelming to say the least. Preparing a months worth of lessons is no joke and at some point you just have to let go and trust that everything will run smoothly without you...the kids will be just fine, and you will soon forget that you spent hours and hours making plans late into the night.

That morning I woke up feeling, for the first time in months, a sense of peace. This was my birth month! And our little one would soon be joining us. My due date was still 11 days away and I was hopeful that I wouldn't go two weeks late like I did with Everdeen.  

I spent the next week nesting like a mad woman. My mom was over almost every day helping me to purge and organize every corner of my house. I felt relieved that we could finally bring the baby into this world in a clean house :) We gathered up the final birth supplies that we would need and set them in the closet...waiting for those first signs of labor. 

I continued to meet with my midwife weekly, who had been insisting my entire pregnancy that I needed to see a chiropractor to hopefully help the baby come on time and make my labor shorter. I finally gave in at 38 weeks pregnant and went for my first adjustment. I had been having contractions on and off again and it felt eerily similar to the way Everdeen's labor had begun. Lots of evenings where we thought it was possibly go time, but by morning, all was calm. I worried that I would spend another two weeks like this so I scheduled a second chiropractor appointment. I left that appointment hopeful that I wouldn't have to go again next week.  

We continued to keep busy through the weekend...enjoying our last days as a family of three. I was trying to walk multiple times a day to help get things going. Waiting is one of the hardest parts. As you inch closer and closer to your due date it becomes a bit of a mind game. I kept reminding myself that my due date is just a guess...that baby comes when they're ready and when I'm ready. I spent a lot of quiet time by myself while Martin was at work and Everdeen at preschool, reminding myself of this. Trying to not let my anxiety creep up and be at peace with the present moment.  

The beginning of the new week brought on more of the same. I debated whether or not to schedule another chiropractor appointment and told myself to hold off for maybe one more day. By early Tuesday afternoon, my contractions were feeling much stronger. They were about 12 minutes apart, but I could tell these were different. I think I knew my labor had started, but I didn't say anything to Martin. By now I had thought my labor had started three different times :) and I wanted to just make sure.  That evening I was upstairs folding the laundry through contractions, when I felt an incredibly powerful surge go through my body. I started to walk to the stairs to tell Martin, when my water broke. Okay! This really is it! I remember walking down the stairs, meeting Martin half way and just bursting into tears. He held me and gave me the pep talk I needed to hear to re-ground myself. I took some deep breaths and called my midwife to let her know what was happening. She was so calm on the phone and it reminded me that everything was okay. Millions of women have done this, I have done this before! I called my older sister and she immediately hopped in her car and started the hour drive to our home. 

Martin and I took Everdeen outside so I could do some walking. The sun had set and Everdeen thought it was the most exciting thing ever to be going for a night walk. We didn't make it very far when my contractions began coming every 4 minutes. They intensified so quickly that I really had to concentrate through them. The most amazing thing though, is that in-between my contractions was complete stillness. There was no lingering pain...almost as if I hadn't had a huge wave through my body minutes before. I leaned against a tree while Everdeen ran up and down the hill behind our house, oblivious to what was happening. The full moon was up and it felt like tonight indeed was the night we would meet our baby.