Shortly after we moved to Fort Mill, SC, my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our second child. We weren’t even done unpacking all of our stuff before I saw those two pink lines. To say I was overwhelmed is a bit of an understatement. I didn’t even know what my birth options were. I had to do some research.

 

Our daughter was born at a birth center back in Missouri, so a birth center birth was my ideal. However, all of the birth centers were either too far away or didn’t accept Medicaid. I knew I didn’t want to give birth in a hospital, so I entertained the idea of a homebirth.

 

That’s where Lori entered the picture. I heard of her from my husband’s cousin, and I’m so thankful I did. I honestly can’t say enough good things about her, and I don’t want to know how the birth of our son would have gone had Lori not been my midwife. I knew she was the right fit for us from the first time I met her. She really does make you feel like you are the only pregnant woman in the world. And no matter how many times I texted her (which I’m pretty sure was almost every day), she never made me feel like I was bothering her. So basically, Lori is amazing and I would recommend her in a heartbeat.

 

And now for the actual birth …

 

On February 5, 2019 at 5:30 in the morning, I woke up from a series of contractions. They were coming every 10 minutes or so. I texted Lori and told her that I thought labor was starting. She told me to just go about my day as I normally would and to make sure I eat a good breakfast. I took a shower to see if the contractions would stop or not. They didn’t. They weren’t coming very consistently, but they were more intense than they had been. I actually found myself swaying through them by the time I was out of the shower. I went downstairs and made myself some oatmeal with a heaping amount of peanut butter (because protein) and called my mom. Sometime after 7, my daughter (2.5 yrs) woke up. Even though my husband is usually the one to get her ready in the morning, I decided to let him sleep longer and get her ready myself. 

 

I didn’t want to wait too long before telling my husband, though, so I woke him up around 8:30. He took our daughter with him to go get some coffee sometime after 9 while I was blowing up the birth pool, and that’s when things really started to progress. I had been updating Lori the whole time via text, but I finally had to call her around 9:30. I couldn’t help but feel bad, though, because I knew she was already on her way to a 10 o’clock appointment. I told her things were a lot more intense. The contractions were coming every three minutes or less, and I couldn’t talk through them at all. She and her assisting midwives were almost to the appointment, but they turned around right away. They were about a half hour away. My husband was still gone at this point, so I called him and told him I needed him home ASAP so he could fill the birth pool. I would have done it myself, but I couldn’t twist the dumb nozzle behind the washer in order to get the hose connected. 

 

He started to fill the pool, but the water didn’t stay hot long enough to fill it completely. When my husband felt the water coming out of the hose, it was cold. He went to shut the water off, but he didn’t get far before the hose slipped out of the tub and started pouring water everywhere! Thank goodness for giant tarps, otherwise our carpet would have been soaked. It was nice to have a good laugh despite dealing with labor pains. 

 

My husband took our daughter outside to give me some space. On the way out, he asked me (again) if I was okay. I was in the middle of a contraction, of course, so I yelled back my answer. “No, I’m not okay! Stop asking me that!” LOL. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever raised my voice at my husband. 

 

The water in the birth pool was basically lukewarm, but I got in anyway. I wasn’t in the pool for very long before Lori and the others arrived shortly after 10. I think I had only three more contractions while in the pool, all of them with the urge to push. By the third contraction, I started pushing and just couldn’t stop. With one long, intense push, Ezra David was born at exactly 10:30, just five short hours from the beginning of labor. Not once during my pregnancy did I expect to have such a fast and furious and problem-free birth. Unlike after the birth of my daughter, I had no hemorrhaging. I didn’t even need any stitches this time. I actually felt great—so great, in fact, that I could hardly believe I had just given birth. Looking back, I honestly don’t think the birth could have gone any better, and I owe a lot of that to Lori and her excellent prenatal care.