Tracy, Scott and Lauren Elizabeth

When I arrived at the birth center for my second birth there, I was in early labor. Aszani, Kymm Ann and Nicole set us up in the room and Scott and I laid down on the bed and I tried to sleep or just rest. I laid there for about half an hour and came to the conclusion that if all I was going to do was lie there and think about how I was inconveniencing the staff, then I would never be able to let go and go into "real" labor. So I went out and told them that I needed a project to work on; something to organize to keep my mind off of things. They didn't think I was serious, but I convinced them that I was, and they found a couple things for me to do. I put some pictures in an album for them, and then I went and started taking old cards off of a holder and replacing them with newer ones.

Aszani and Kymm Ann went to get some sleep, and Nicole held down the fort. I went out to talk to her at 2 a.m. I was like, "I can't believe I've been here for four hours and haven't had this baby yet!" Not only that, but I was still in early labor…..contractions were really easy to breathe through and 5 to 7 minutes apart. I was starting to get discouraged that I would ever enter active labor. The contractions were starting to get stronger and I would feel pressure on the back of my pelvis with them. I told Nicole that I thought the baby was going to come out my bum but she said she really hadn't seen that yet so I probably didn't need to worry.

By around 2:30, the contractions had gotten strong enough that I was feeling like I needed to make a little noise through them. They still weren't bad, though, and I figured I had a long way to go. I told Scott that I wanted to go to the hospital and get an epidural: not for the pain, but so I could get some sleep! He said, honey, it's not like you have 2 or 3 more hours of this, you know. Even though he had no basis in fact for this statement (just a feeling) it still encouraged me that maybe he was seeing some sign of labor that I wasn't. Scott asked me if I wanted him to start timing the contractions. They were coming every 2 ½ to 3 ½ minutes.

He asked if I wanted to get in the shower but it just didn't sound good to me. What felt good was to stay upright and kind of hang off of something (a towel bar, Scott's back). I did want some counter pressure on my back so I thought the jets in the tub would be nice. I told him to go get Nicole and tell her that I wanted to get in the tub.

I took a contraction at the edge of the tub and Scott tried to rub my back or something and I said, "don't touch me" while thinking, hmmm, when people get to transition they don't want to be touched. Aszani told the birth assistants to turn the heat in the room up and I told her, "no more heat, it's too hot in here already" while thinking, hmmm, when people get to transition they get really hot. There were lots of clues that I was entering transition, but at the same time, I wasn't in "laborland" and the contractions were nothing like when I was at 7 cm with Megan so I tried to push those thoughts to the back of my head so I wouldn't get my hopes up that the labor would be ending soon.

I got in the tub at around 3 a.m. They turned the jets on, but I couldn't seem to get in a comfortable position that also aimed a jet at my back. I tried to make it work, and considered having Scott take the portable showerhead and aim that at my back. I had Scott go get a towel and tie it to the grip bar on the wall so that I could kind of hang off of it. It really helped me work through the contractions, which were getting more intense with each one.

Aszani took this time to talk to me about how second babies tend to want to come out very quickly and that I would need to counter the intense pushing urge when it came so I wouldn't tear. Ok, got it. I was also vaguely aware of them opening all of the birth equipment and getting stuff ready for the big moment. I was encouraged by that and thought maybe I could be getting close.

After a couple more contractions, I got one where I felt a bit "pushy" near the end of it. I reached down to see if I could feel her head moving down but I couldn't feel anything yet.

After another tough contraction, I still couldn't feel the head, but all it took was one more and all of a sudden I felt the baby's head right on my perineum. With the next contraction, the head started to come out. I tried to not push, and I could feel Aszani's hand giving a little counter pressure to the baby's head so it didn't come out so fast. Midway through the contraction she told me to blow the pushing urge away, so I blew a couple times. Once the contraction was done, she told me to give a couple little pushes to birth my baby, so I did. I could feel the baby moving down and then all of a sudden the pressure and pain was all gone and I knew that the baby was born. It was 3:38 a.m.

I turned around so I could sit down and hold the baby. I wanted Scott to announce if the baby was a boy or a girl, so I asked him to look to see what it was. He took a look and announced that it was a girl! Aszani asked if she had a name, and Scott said, yes, Lauren Elizabeth.

As I was getting out of the tub, Lauren had found my nipple and started nursing! We all got a good laugh out of that. We figured she would be taking after her big sister and never pass up an opportunity for food!

At around 10 o'clock, we headed home with our new little baby. Megan was excited to meet and hold her and just loves "her baby". Welcome to our family, Lauren Elizabeth!!