Jesse Grayson

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Tyler and I had Parker at Labors of Love Birth Center. We had such a good experience we decided go all natural again and have Jesse at the same place.

This time around my midwife asked me not to wait so long to head to the birth center when I started labor, since this would be my third delivery.  She told us to plan on heading to the birth center when contractions were five minutes apart, just to be on the safe side.

Well my due date came and went. Tyler and my mom were both calling or texting two or three times a day to check up on me, despite my insistence that I would let them know as soon as anything happened.

On October 4, Annley got up at 2AM and asked me to take her potty and to get her some water.  I had just walked her into the bathroom when I felt a contraction that made me double over.  I thought hmm...that really hurt. I'm pretty sure they started out easier last time. I guess I'll wait and see I have anymore. 

I had another painful contraction before I got Annley into bed so I woke up Tyler to give him a heads up.

Contractions were about seven minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds so he said he'd go back to sleep for a couple of hours.  I walked and tried to "rest" for the next two hours.  When I woke Tyler up at four in the morning, my contractions were all over the place but very painful and still only 30-45 seconds.  Tyler went ahead and called my mom and the midwife to let them know what was going on.  The midwife told him that we could head to the birth center, but that I probably wasn't even ready since my contractions were so short.  Tyler passed the word on to me, and I wondered if we should just wait a little longer.  He, being a good, coach insisted we leave right away.

The birth center was over an hour from where we live and by the time we'd gotten close I felt like my contractions were still really strong but getting shorter.  I was worried we'd driven all that way only to be in false labor.  Once we got there I told the midwives what I thought was going on. They checked me and said "Well, you're at 6cm. Would you like to get in the tub?"  

It still didn't seem real.  I was so excited and still talking between contractions which were getting closer together.  We were only there for 24 minutes before I felt like it was time to push. I was given the go ahead and 6 minutes later Jesse Grayson was born. Total time of Labor and delivery 4 hours and 30 minutes. I'm really glad Tyler insisted we leave when we did otherwise he would have had to deliver a baby in the car.

Tyler's mom came and brought the kids to see us at the birth center.  Annley was so excited to see her new baby brother. Parker was pretty interested too, until he got distracted by a train set in the waiting room, and went to go play. We were back home by 10:30 the same morning.