February 21st around 4 am my water broke... I knew I would be meeting my baby boy soon. Sleep, hydrate and eat was what I was instructed to do but I couldn’t help but have excitement mounting. Then the “when you know, you know” contraction hit and I knew I needed to rest. A marathon was ahead.

I had contractions 7 minutes apart throughout the day. The slow build of intensity, peaking then slowly dissipating. I remember the breathing while holding ice cubes challenge during pregnancy, which helped me through these early contractions. Low belly breathing. We walked our dogs, watched movies, napped and ate some empanadas. Mitchell did clean the entire condo too. Night time rolled around and contractions were the same. Phone calls to the midwife and doulas suggested we should try to sleep. So we did.

An hour or so later the contractions went from uncomfortable to what felt like unbearable. To the point where I felt like I couldn’t do a home birth anymore. My midwife assured me this was transition and to use my tools I learned to get through the period of time without my birthing team. Breathing techniques from hypnobrithing class and running water on a birthing ball in the shower were the things that immediately came to mind. While holding Mitchell’s hand, I breathed through contractions. When he was needed to assist setting up my birthing tub, I held my doula’s hand through contractions.

From there, it was somewhat of a blur. Movement kept me pushing through. Whether that was by hip squeezes, various squats, walking or swaying. At first, I kept resisting bone broth, water and other natural remedies. I also had moments where I said “I can’t do this”. With the encouragement from my birthing team, the reminder of meeting my son soon, as well as being able to now labor in water, I placed myself into a transformative mindset. Saying yes to nourishment for my laboring mind and body, running water and slowed breathing during rest, and affirming that I can in fact do this! So I kept breathing through one contraction at a time. Time became nonexistent.

The next thing I remember was feeling the need to push and the desire to feel if my baby was close. That's when I touched my baby for the first time! My midwife confirmed I could now begin to push and my energy changed. Remembering one contraction at a time, one contraction at a time. At one point my midwife said “look at all that hair!” and I couldn’t believe, in moments, that I would be holding my baby. One last push and Remington Reese was brought earth side at 4:31am on February 22nd 2021.

I brought him to my arms and this sense of overwhelming happiness filled me. Mitchell and I were in aw. We sat there for some time taking in the moment. Then as the birth team cleaned up, we had some time as a family alone to savor the preciousness of a new family.