So, of course, everyone read about my midwife getting hurt a couple weeks ago, and how I quickly went from wanting the baby to come anytime, to wanting the baby to wait as long as possible (which, by the way, wouldn't have mattered - my midwife is out until at least September!). But, my major concern was that Michaela was going to "lose" her birthday - I really wanted to get past that on Monday, and then past her party on Tuesday.
Lo and behold, after the party on Tuesday (well, kind of through the party and then after), I started having early labor contractions on a timeable basis. Most of the afternoon, they were about 15 minutes apart, and I even went so far as to get in touch with my doula and give her a heads up. Jason also called into work and cancelled his flight for the night... even if it wasn't the real thing, I was having a hard time doing much around the house and wasn't sure how I was going to take care of Michaela through the night.
Real labor started some time shortly before midnight on Wednesday, and I stayed out in the living room to try to sleep on the couch and let Jason get some sleep in the bedroom. Little did I know, my, ehem, "vocalizations" through contractions were a little louder than I thought and Jason started timing them a lot earlier than I did. By about 3 in the morning on Wednesday, I had timed them for about an hour and realized I was actually in labor. Like, real labor.
Things went pretty quickly after that... Jason called our doula a little after 3am and she got her a little after 4am. By 5:40, we were heading out the door to the hospital... a complete shock to me after my terrible, awful, long labor with Michaela.
We got to the hospital shortly after 6, and by 8:17, Cate Madigan Dorval had joined our family on the outside! I'll write and share a full birth story on the FlyingFish blog (complete with disclaimer for anyone who doesn't want details!!!), but those are the basics.
Even without my midwife, and with the fear of a non-VBAC-friendly staff at the hospital, I got to have her via VBAC, with the help of the amazing coach, Jason; my AWESOME doula; and an L&D nurse who couldn't have been a better pick if I could've hand-chosen her.
I'll skip the ugly, immediately post-birth, Becca picture here, I think... though I might put it on the other blog. Instead, I'll share one I took of Cate with my phone just a few hours after she was born. Isn't she perfect??
Oh, and I had to put in the one of Michaela giving her new sister a first kiss. She's definitely still not sure what to think of the baby, but we've had a few sweet moments, starting with that one.
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