Abigail Charity

Our birth story begins with 41 loooong weeks of pregnancy.  For those of you that have ever been over due, you can understand the amount of patience it takes to endure each and every day, moment by long moment. The last month of my pregnancy had been pretty miserable, filled with daily puking, boughts of sciatica and just general tired/whinyness.  We were scheduled to have an ultrasound and NST at 41 weeks and I was hoping that surely something would show up that just convinced the midwives to induce (note: inducing is not natural, which goes against the whole reason I was going to the midwife in the first place, but hey, I was getting desperate.)  Good for baby, bad for me, the ultrasound and NST went very well.  The midwives were very encouraging and gave me lots of tools to go home and work on to help baby move things along, as well as preparing my body as well as they could during the apt. (no details required ;) 
Since we were already in town and planning on going to church that night, we decided to stay in town at my mom's house instead of making the drive back home.  I was feeling some contractions, but nothing was regular or painful, so I chose to ignore them.  We had dinner with my folks and headed off to church.
Julianna has had a very bad case of what I call "Pewitis."  She just does not like sitting in the pew anymore, so she requires some extra attention.  Our church service involves a lot of standing with some sitting mixed in, which is normally fine, except for when I am contracting and everyone else is sitting down and all I wanna do is stand.  So I volunteer for Juls duty during church and we have a fun time walking around the back of the church.  We visit and chat as normal after services and begin making the trek back home. 
Once we are home I am starting to recognize some regularity with the contractions and feel some discomfort.  I let Josh put the girls to bed while I lay down and time contractions.  About 30 minutes in to things Josh decides it's time to head to the grocery store.  I give him a look and tell him not to dawdle.  After he gets home I tell him it's time to call the midwife.  I give her the details and she says to head on in.  We make our calls to get our children taken care of and head off to the birth center.
We have an hour drive and thankfully Josh sets the cruise control and we have a peaceful trip to the center.  Things pick up a bit in the car and I tell Josh that I would at least like to be at 3cm by the time we get there, just to ensure I am in labor. 
It just happened to work out that the same midwife who delivered Julianna was on call and we were able to be in the same birth room.  It was very comforting.  Once I arrived, the midwife informed me I was at 5cm.  I was very pleased!  She made some suggestions on how to get things moving more, so I took my spot on the birthing ball with the TENS unit on my back.  Josh and the nurse stayed by my side for quite a while and I enjoyed the distraction of listening to them chat with each other. 
After a while we decided to change positions.  I tried the bed, but was quickly convinced that the tub would feel better.  BOY did it!  There is nothing like a nice hot bath!  I had Josh sit next to me (not in the tub) so I could hold his hand. 
Things quickly got more intense and the nurse could tell I was naturally trying to push so she went and got the midwife.  Much to my chagrin, I was only 7cm (I was hoping for 9).  Let me tell you, I just love my midwife!  I told her I felt like my water was never going to break, so she quickly took care of that for me and then continued to massage my cervix until it was ripe for pushing!  It sounds painful, and it is, but there is nothing like a quick transition!  Within minutes I was holding my precious baby Abigail!  I know I uttered something to the effect of, "Finally, it's over!" 
I never imagined that I would have a water birth, but we did and it went great!  Although it seemed like a long 41 weeks, at least Abby blessed me with a beautifully short 4 hour labor!
And that is my story :)