A couple of days before he was born I definitely started to feel some stuff happening but I know that can happen weeks before. I had been taking some good brisk walks and I wonder if that helped things move along. Tuesday night I kept waking up with contractions about every 20-30 minutes but I again figured just false labor. We were scheduled to close on our loan the next morning at 9 and by the time that rolled around I was having pretty regular contractions....I still wasn't convinced it was real labor although everyone else was!!!
So, I made the trek over our horrible bumpy road and into town to sign our papers!!! Right as we got up to leave the bank another contraction started so I just booked it out the door. Joe said they were all saying "bye Moriah" but I was already gone!! They were all women so they were really sympathetic. I guess I'm now a legend at the bank.
Maria was getting ready to ride with some fellow nurses to a paid conference in Billings and I told her I still wasn't sure if it was real (gosh, I guess I was really in denial) and so she headed out. About an hour later mom arrived and I was dilated to 5. So we call Maria and she ended up hitch hiking part of the way back!!!
The morning was crazy: we had nothing really ready, construction guys working outside, my birth supplies hadn't arrived yet, people hitch hiking, loan papers signing...it was crazy. Everyone sprang into action, they got the pool and bed set up in the living room. The crew practically vanished the instant we told them I was in labor...it was hilarious!! Everything became really calm and relaxing from that point...besides, well labor:-)
I allowed one picture of me in labor...the water felt so good and relaxing.
After about 7 or so hours of regular hard labor my water broke and I literally had him about 4 minutes later.
Maria made it about a half hour before the birth. We called my cousin April right before my water broke and although she hurried over, she missed it by a few minutes. I was sad that she missed it but really happy that she got to be here to see him. When Eric was born, she lived in California.
Eric's first look at his little brother.
The whole experience was so different than Eric's birth. It was way shorter and I had more energy during labor and the recovery has been so much faster. With Eric it was about 8 months until I felt like a normal person and I already feel almost back to normal after 2 weeks!!! All the things I stressed and worried about didn't happen.
I got the home birth I wanted and having my mom and sisters there was really comforting. Martha is a wonderful doula and really knows how to help a laboring mom relax. It was so nice to be able to just enjoy the baby afterwards and not have to go anywhere.
It still seems so surreal that we have a new little baby and it's amazing to me how much you can love someone.
