This was not unusual to have contractions in the morning. There were
several times we thought labor was beginning only to have things cease
a couple hours later. Even contractions where I could feel cervical
dilation and baby's head engaging would leave us wondering.



I lay in bed and began to keep an eye on the clock. I could also feel
my babe moving in the womb. At 6 a.m.it was time to get the children up
for school. The contractions were becoming stronger and by 6:30a.m.I
was certain this was real. My 13 year old daughter was planning to
participate in our birth, but I felt I needed Ray alone so we sent her
off to school. I began to prepare some herbs I would need after
delivery for after pains and also a good herbal bath for healing tears,
fighting infections, and soothing sore muscles.

I also did a thorough cleaning of the kitchen, and off to the bathtub I
went while Ray took our toddler to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

I lit some special beeswax candles I had prepared for my birth, and
sunk into the very warm water. I labored in the tub for awhile, then
decided to get out and sit in the living room. By now contractions were
gathering my attention and breathing through them brought relief. Ray
was blending herbal ice cubes into slush for me, and in between
contractions I would enjoy this treat. Ray also began to screw together
a birth tub he made for the occasion. Using scrap material and left
over rubber from a job, he sterilized and created a birth tub that did
not leak and gave me plenty of room to deliver.

This he set up in the kitchen.

We had been listening to jazz up to this point and when the cd was
over, Ray put in a Twila Paris cd. If you have ever heard Twila sing,
you know her voice is calming and soothing and looking back, it was a
very good choice he made for this stage of my labor.

Ray drug in a long garden hose and attached it by a fitting onto our
shower and began filling the birth tub until our hot water ran out. He
also filled every pot in my kitchen with water and had then heating on
the stove as well. The contractions were deep and strong by now. There
were times I remember they would cause me to leap up out of the chair
with my hands straight toward the sky, while breathing loudly. I
continued to encourage myself that these strong contractions are
necessary for the babe to emerge. Ray continued to blend herbal ice
slushies for me and decided to take a look at how I was really doing.
He checked me and thought I may be 4 centimeters dilated.

The next contraction came and it was so deep that I barely endured it.
The thought of being 4 centimeters and having contractions like that
were to much to deal with for me and I began to demand he take me to
the hospital.

This part makes me laugh because I was so insistent that if I were not
progressing, Ray take me somewhere for drugs and RIGHT NOW BUDDY!

My dear husband at that moment had to decide if I was for real or if I
may have been transitioning. I can imagine how he must have felt trying
to read me and make the right decision.

The next contractions came and the cervical sensations felt with every
contraction previously was now gone and great pressure was replacing
it. At this point I could not sit anymore but began to roam around the
house, which is one of my absolute favorite things to do when labor
begins to get difficult. The contractions were longer and the pressure
was incredible and the best pain relief for me is moaning with the
sensations of the baby moving into the birth canal. At this point Ray
had on a music video of Paul Wilbur. This particular video is one that
tends to spiritually move me as it seems so powerful. It is a Christian
video filmed in Jerusalem and has some Jewish inspriation as well and
is absolutely fascinating to me. I remember thinking how perfect that
such a powerful video was on while I was in such a powerful time of
labor and concluded that by the time the video was over I would be
birthing.

So for the next 45 minutes or so I was roaming around through the house
roaring or moaning as the contractions and pressure guided me to do. I
would look at the birth tub on occasion and tried to decide if I wanted
to go in there or not. Finally I jumped in and it was so relaxing. The
change also gave me a few minutes before the next contraction came and
I enjoyed visiting with Ray while resting my head on the side of the
tub. After a few contractions I decide that I was ready to have labor
over and that it was time to push this baby out! So that is what I
began to do. After pushing through a few contractions, I finally moved
the head into the birth canal and told Ray I could feel the head
descend. Typically, after a few good pushes I deliver my babies, but
this time was so different. I remember thinking I must be getting too
old for childbirth because it waso challenging birthing this babe. I
had to really work to get the head to emerge, but once the head was out
I reached down and stroked the baby's head and felt a lot of hair. I
began to stroke the face and felt an ear and the little nose. I just
loved to touch this little baby. It still took a couple pushes to get
the head completely out and Ray discovered the cord around the neck
twice. I quickly stood up out of the water so he could clearly see what
he was doing. The cord was now off, but I needed to remain above the
water now that the baby was exposed to the air. If a baby is exposed to
air they can begin to breathe so birthing the rest of the baby in water
would not be happening.

"You are going to have to get the baby out NOW ", Ray said.

I could sense the urgency in his voice. "Is the baby turning blue"?, I asked.

"Yes, you need to get the baby out now!", Ray said soberly. I tried to
push without a contraction and the force was not behind my efforts.
Finally a contraction came and I pushed and I pushed and using
everything within me, including my voice, I wouldn't stop until I felt
the little body slide into my husbands hands. I caught my breath and
then went to tend to my little one..

"It's a girl!" my husband proclaimed. I began to rub her and talk to her, but her limp and blue body was not responding to me.