We finally had our first snow on Friday night, and I woke up Saturday morning to texts from 2 clients saying they had been up with contractions! (Everyone thinks it's the full moon that puts women into labor, but it's totally storms!) Thankfully, (for my sake) only one client went into labor. We kept in touch over text all day Saturday. Her contractions were coming about every 10 minutes and she seemed to be in a good, early labor pattern.
I wasn't sure if I should go to bed on Saturday night or not, but when my client said she was going to get some sleep, I decided to do the same. She called at 3:00 am saying she had woken up with around 1:00 am, taken a shower, and that the contractions were now coming every 3-5 minutes. So I hopped out of bed and raced over. As I was pulling into her neighborhood she called to say they had stopped! I still went in to visit and see how things were going. I really wanted to stay and watch her through a couple contractions, but no contractions came. After about 30 minutes we all decided to go back to bed. Since her last labor was a long, multi day event, she was starting to worry that this labor would be the same. I tried to assure her that early labor stops and starts, and a long warm up usually leads to a fast active labor and birth.
On my way to church I checked in to see how things were going. Contractions were now about 7 minutes apart. At noon, mom and dad decided to head down to the birth center to be checked. Things picked up on the drive. Mom was checked upon arrival and was about 4 centimeters, but stretched to 6. Baby was also really low and engaged. Shortly after being checked, mom's water broke at 12:30 and things really picked up!
I raced to the birth center and arrived at 1:08. I found mom in the tub with dad providing support. She was vocalizing during contractions, but very calm and focused in between. I didn't think we were as close as we were!
The midwife was running downstairs to get some boiling water because we hadn't even had time to fill up the tub. She was about 3 steps down when baby's head slipped out. :)
Welcome Emily Noelle!
Born Sunday, December 17th, at 1:20 pm
One day after her due date
She was all tangled up!
Baby girl was so calm and alert, and it was sweet to see her parents getting to know her. I love her little hand reaching out to grab both of her parents'.
By 1:54, she was nursing perfectly.
It was definitely a slow and steady start, but the race to the finish line was short and sweet. :)
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