My birth story begins on a beautiful, cool morning in October…but really a week or sobefore. We had our 37 week prenatal at the hut with Jennifer and Maria after our 36 week home visit the week before. The home visit was great. I had been having some mucusy show for a week or so and some other signs that said that I would be in labor at some point. Unfortunately nothing definitive. It could still be a month or so before I would start into real labor. That’s hard to hear when you’re dealing with somewhat painful Braxton Hicks contractions…that really more reminded me of menstrual cramps…all the time. At least it felt like it. I wanted a sign that all the discomfort meant I was closer to holding my baby. I knew it was, but when you’re big and pregnant and ready, you want an obvious sign. I got an unexpected sign at our 37 week prenatal. Jennifer asked if I wanted to be checked to see if I was dilating or making any progress. Sure, I thought, what the heck. When she checked me, she got a strange look on her face. I thought something was wrong. On the contrary, I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. No way, I thought. I really thought I would have to do a lot more conscious work to get to 3 cm. I guess it did mean that the annoying Braxton Hicks contractions were helping me along. Did it mean I’d be in labor soon? Yes. No. Maybe. It could have still been days or even a month before I had my baby. The only thing that I knew to be true was that my blood pressure was a bit elevated so I was taking cayenne pepper pills in addition to my usual battery of vitamins to help keep it down. This did not help my heartburn that had plagued me throughout the pregnancy.

At my 38 week prenatal my blood pressure was still elevated so I was instructed to keep on with the cayenne pepper pills (bummer) and to take a brisk walk every day. To the point that I was sweating. That night we took our ‘brisk’ walk around Gulley Park. It was more of a slow waddle. I couldn’t walk fast enough to sweat and was having one long tight Braxton Hicks contraction for the entire walk. It was a little disheartening. I was kind of hoping I’d go into labor that day. There were thunderstorms forecast and a full moon that night. It turns out that I wasn’t far off.

Just the day before, I had finally decided that I was ready to have my baby. I was on my way to get adjusted at my chiropractor’s office and driving in the car. It seemed kind of silly, but that’s when I just knew. (On a side note, I strongly recommend getting adjusted throughout your pregnancy. I felt amazing the entire time and didn’t have the back pain and discomfort I expected. Thanks, Dr. Chris!)

The next morning I woke up as the sun was coming up and felt the cool breeze coming in the window. I had gotten a great night’s sleep and dozed off for a bit more before getting up to take a shower around 7:00am. I woke my husband up for work, but at 7:50am I told him that I didn’t think he should go…I was starting to have contractions. At 8:00am, I called Jennifer to tell her that I was having contractions about three minutes apart, but they were only lasting about 20 or 30 seconds and I could talk through them. She said to relax, grab a bite to eat and just hang out – and to call her if they became a minute long. “Is this it?” I asked. “Maybe,” she said. Famous last words. At 8:08am I called our friend and told her that we’d be dropping off our dogs so they wouldn’t be in the way for our birth. I felt like I had to throw up and got in the shower as my husband Chad got the dogs ready for my mom to drop them off. That’s when the contractions got a lot more painful really fast. The shower was great. I could have hot or cold water at the turn of a knob. Chad was frantically trying to set up the birthing tub and get the dresser cleared off for equipment, get the dogs out the door when I was telling him to call Jennifer back. When he had her on the phone, he asked, “What do you need?” All I could say was, “I don’t know!” I was angry. The contractions hurt, they were right on top of each other, but I didn’t know what to tell Jennifer because he hadn’t been timing them. Not too long after the second call, I felt like I had to use the toilet…but knew it was really that I had to push. Chad placed a third call to Jennifer, who heard me in the background, and hurried over. I was afraid that she was going to get there and scold me for pushing too early, that I was only five centimeters and to stop being a baby. And I was sitting on the toilet in the smallest bathroom in the house.

When Jennifer got there, she and Chad got me out of the ‘smallest bathroom in the house’ and onto the futon in our bedroom. Jennifer checked me and I was nine centimeters dilated. We were all surprised. She asked me to try not to push for a few contractions – I think I made it through two and a half – and then I was pushing again. The hot and cold compresses came out. I was on my hands and knees looking over the side of the futon. Chad had time to hold two of each on me – cold on the top of my back and neck and hot on my lower back – before Jennifer saw the head and had him prepare to catch the baby. A few contractions and pushes later the baby’s head was out. One of the baby’s shoulders got a little stuck and wasn’t turning, but Jennifer managed to get the baby turned without me having to move – when she even implied that I might have to move with the baby’s head sticking out – I thought she must have lost her mind. They had me push a few more times after the baby was unstuck, and our baby was born. Chad got to catch the baby and be a guide as the baby came into the world. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl, but a few minutes after the birth, he looked and said, “It’s a girl, it’s a girl. We’ve got a girl!” He was so excited. We both were, but I was a little in shock. It all happened so quickly that when Jennifer asked if I wanted to try to feed her, I had her give me a minute to take it all in. Aurora Sage was born at 10:15am and she was perfect.

We had invited my mom and a few friends to the birth and none of them made it since it all happened so quickly. Jennifer was there less than an hour before Rory was born, and Maria was only there about ten minutes. If she hadn’t been on our side of town she would have missed the birth completely. My mom came in a few minutes after Rory was born to see us sitting there holding our new daughter, and another friend showed up a few minutes later with a bunch of fresh lavender for my bath in her hand.

It was all better than I could have dreamed. We were right there watching as Rory’s measurements were taken and Jennifer did her newborn exam. After the exam and we had made our first attempt at breastfeeding (Rory was a natural) we got into the herb bath together for a quick soak. Then we got dressed and hung out in bed together. I felt amazing…not like I’d just had a baby, but at the same time exactly like I’d just had a baby. We had a wonderful meal and I just spent the rest of the day hanging out holding my baby and taking pictures of her proud papa and grandma holding her.

Later that evening, her papa had his own postpartum ceremony and cremated my placenta with some herbs (and a few of my cayenne pepper pills) in a new fire pit in our backyard. It was his way of welcoming his new daughter into this world and I was happy to spend a few minutes out there with him as the fire burned down and we thought of our new family together.

Jennifer has said that if we decide to have another baby in the next few years that we’ll have to call her as soon as we think labor is starting. “I did,” I told her. “Yes, but next time I’ll come right away!” she replied. We will never be able to thank Jennifer enough for facilitating and being there for the most amazing experience of our lives. We can’t wait until Rory is old enough to really get to know the amazing woman who helped welcome her into our lives.

Aurora Sage, 4 months