Friday night around 8PM I started having more painful contractions than the ones I had been experiencing for the last several weeks.  We were all sitting around watching a rented movie, eating pizza and pop like every other Friday night.  Brent and I had already decided that Friday night would be the best night to have the baby, so that he could take off the entire weekend and not miss out on any work hours.  The contractions kept coming about every 6 minutes and I finally started thinking that this may be it.  At 10PM, I called the midwife and told her that something may be happening but I wasn’t 100% sure.  She told me that she’d call me back at 11 and see where I was at.  After the hour was up, the contractions were still only 6 minutes apart and they weren’t getting stronger or longer.  The midwife said she would again call back in an hour.  By midnight, the contractions had spaced apart to 10 minutes or so and I was really starting to believe that they were going to fade away.  I told my midwife that we should all just go to sleep and forget about it for tonight.  Everyone at my house went to bed and slept just fine–except for me.  I took a few Tylenol and slept fitfully for maybe 2 hours max before the contractions woke me up.  They hurt like hell, but were completely sporadic with no pattern or rhythm to them whatsoever.  Some of them were 6 minutes apart, some were 20.  In between the contractions, I was having wrenching menstrual like cramping that was absolutely miserable.  All I wanted to do was sleep, but the contractions worsened if I sat down or laid down.  I spent most of that night standing or walking.  By morning, I was completely exhausted and frustrated and I called my midwife to ask her if she would check my cervix for dilation.  This is something that I hadn’t planned on doing at all, but I felt like it would be a good idea to see where I was starting at, in case I had several more days of these inconsistent labor pains.  I knew that at some point, I’d need to hear proof that I was progressing.  I was already beginning to get ideas in my head of wanting the hospital, a whiff of Pitocin and a strong IV narcotic so I could get some rest.  I met the midwife at the clinic at 1:30PM.  She checked me and I was at 4cm.  She suggested sweeping my membranes to see if we could get the contractions to ramp up.  I decided to go ahead with that.  After she swept them, she said I immediately opened to 5-6 centimeters.  On the way home, I started getting contractions 6 minutes apart again.  We got home and after about an hour, I called the midwife and asked her to just come on over and start my IV antibiotics.  We made a decision that if I hadn’t delivered by 8PM, she would just break my water to ensure that the baby would be born that night.  (She was positive that breaking my water would bring forth a baby within an hour or less.)  After I got off the phone with her, I told Brent to fill the birth pool.  With my last birth, I waited too long and didn’t make it into the pool in time.  This time, I wanted to be in the water as much as possible!  He filled the pool and I got right in.  It was awesome and completely took away the pain of the contractions.  Unfortunately, it relaxed me TOO much and my contractions stopped.  I got out of the pool and started walking laps, climbing stairs, squatting and rocking.  By the time the midwife got there, the contractions were completely sporadic and wimpy.  She gave me my IV, which took about 5 minutes and then she did another exam.  I was 7cm dilated with a bulging bag and she swept the membranes once again.  This worked well and they started right back up at 6 minutes apart.  My parents had arrived, two of my boys were home and the midwife and her assistant were all hanging out.  We spent the next couple of hours hanging out, eating and socializing.  I was getting really frustrated that the contractions weren’t getting closer together or getting stronger.  I was also willing my water to break on its own so I could just go ahead and have the baby.  At about 5:30, the contractions started getting to be about 4 minutes apart and I decided to go ahead and try the birth pool again.  I got in and it felt so great!  The midwife and her assistant sat with me in the bedroom and we gossipped and talked for almost another hour.  Every once in awhile, I would check myself to feel how the baby’s head was descending and to see if I could feel the bulging bag of waters.  Brent was in and out of the room, but was bored and restless so he was cooking and doing chores here and there.  My parents hung out in the living room and took care of my 3 year old.  At one point, Brent came in and asked me if I wanted music.  I said yes.  He went downstairs to grab the CD player and while he was gone, I got a contraction that completely overwhelmed me.  It just kept going and going and towards the tail end of it, I felt a popping sensation.  It didn’t feel like my water breaking and I didn’t feel a gush, but the midwife figured it had been my bag of water.  Brent walked into the room as the next contraction was beginning.  He asked me if I wanted to listen to Dido or Sarah McLachlan.  Little did he know what was coming, because I said “DON’T TALK TO ME” and then started screaming.  I had been semi squatting in the pool when I felt the baby’s head barrel down and start to crown.  I sat down and leaned against the side of the pool and heard my midwife say, “Oh Rachael I can see his head!”  She called for everyone to come in and they all flooded into the doorway, with my 3 year old front and center.  I remember looking straight at him and worrying that he was going to be scared or traumatized and I was telling myself to be quiet and calm for his sake.  I tried hard to gain control as the baby’s head crowned.  I was holding my hand on top of his head as it came out, just trying to make sure that he came out slowly.  I didn’t have to push at this point at all.  It was like he was pushing himself out with his own strength and I was just doing my best to slow him down.  I could feel him kicking me as he descended.  His head emerged and there was “ooohs” and “aaahs” from everyone in the room.  My three year old’s commentary was hilarious and can be heard on the video saying, “Babies come out of of mommy’s vaginas!”  and “Woah look at that baby!  That baby is GROSS!”  After Jack’s head was out, I had to wait for another contraction to come in order to push out his shoulders.  That felt like it was taking forever, and no matter how many waterbirths I’ve seen, I was still worried that he was going to drown.  When the next contraction started, I pushed and felt his shoulder pop out.  The midwife reminded me to get him out of the water, and as soon as the rest of his body flopped out, I grabbed him out of the water.  He pinked right up and cried a little and I held him floating in the warm water while he fell asleep until I could feel that my end of the cord had stopped pulsating and asked my midwife to cut the cord before I delivered the placenta.  He scored 10/10 on his Apgars, nursed right away and was 9lbs.,10oz AFTER pooping twice.  In fact, he pooped 13 times within the first 24 hours! I had the same small tear that I always seem to get, and asked the midwife to put in two stitches to ensure that I’d heal well.  This labor was by far my hardest and longest, but was of course, worth every moment of it for the healthy baby and the experience of birthing him myself and into water in our own bedroom.