I had been having contractions on and off for about a week. There were several days when contractions were every 3-10 minutes apart all day long, and then they'd just stop at the end of the day. It was a bit frustrating because we'd get our hopes up, but then baby wouldn't come. Saturday morning I went to see my midwife, and she 'stripped my membranes' (don't you just love that phrase?). Throughout the day I had pretty strong contractions and they started getting stronger and closer together at around 11:00 at night. Then at 1:30 a.m. my water broke, and contractions became very intense and 30 seconds to 1 minute apart. We called our midwife right away, and my mom and sister (Kayla) came over shortly thereafter.
Labor was intense and painful, of course, but luckily I progressed very quickly. I went from being 4 cm dialated to 10 cm in just over 2 hours, and it only took about 5-10 minutes of hard pushing before baby Ty was delivered. Jarett was a lot of help and support during labor, as were my mom, sister, and midwife--I couldn't have done it without them.
Delivering our baby at home was an amazing experience--I would highly recommend it for anybody considering the idea. I'd love to share details as to why, or answer any questions or concerns about home births for those interested. Feel free to contact me for my two bits.
Baby and I are both doing very well. Jarett and my family have been a big help in taking care of us, Bryce, and the house while I'm recovering. Bryce thinks the baby is pretty neat, and enjoys giving him "loves"...he has a hard time remembering to be gentle though, so we're working on that. We feel so blessed to now have two beautiful sons as part of our little family.
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