In the very early morning of Wednesday, October 14, 2009 I was going to the bathroom and noticed a little blood. I thought that it may be me loosing the bloody show but I did not want to react unless I was sure. A little later on that morning around 9:54 AM, I was sure that I was loosing my bloody show. A lot was coming out each time I went to the bathroom. I was excited to see this because I remembered that with my first daughter, Elsa, I lost the bloody show 5 days before giving birth to her. I really wanted to meet my second daughter Aislin and this was a sign that her birthday was close. I spent the rest of the day on Wednesday relaxing and playing with Elsa.

After Paul got home from work in the evening of the 14th we were eating dinner and watching TV and I began to feel labor contractions come more frequently. At some point the contractions turned to pre-labor contractions, and up to this point the contractions were easy to move through. This time during dinner, I started to notice that they were coming more frequently and instead of sitting I began to walk around the living room, doing squats and breathing to get through them.

Around 2 AM on Thursday, October 15, 2009 I started to feel painful labor contractions. Previously, I could sleep through the contractions. Now they were getting intense to sleep through. I got up and walked around, just breathing and moving through the contractions. Paul noticed that I was starting to express pain and asked how I was doing. He even said, “This sounds like it may be the real thing”.

After feeling the intense contractions and not being able to get back to sleep, I decided to take a bath. Sitting in the warm water felt wonderful. I turned the water on warm to sooth the muscles and then alternated warm and cold to increase blood flow. In the very early morning about the time when Paul was getting ready for work I told him that I wanted to create a plan for the day in case this was the day that I go into labor. I was starting to think that this was it, but have heard of people who go into labor and delivery only to find out that it was a false alarm. Paul told me that regardless of whether this was the real thing or a false alarm he wanted to be here for me and Elsa to help take care of her and help me get through the contractions.

The contractions were still building in intensity. I called the midwives where I was receiving my maternity care and they suggested that I make a visit to there practice and they would be finished with their hospital rounds and be back in the office around 1:30 PM that day. As we were leaving to see the midwives, I told Paul that I wanted to bring our hospital bag because I felt that we would probably be going to the hospital after the midwife appointment and even suggested that we go directly to the hospital.

We decided to make a stop at the midwife practice and upon checking me our midwife said, “You are 7 cm dilated and will have your baby very soon.” I was so happy and overjoyed to learn that I would be meeting my second daughter that day. I have waited the whole 9 months and was really excited to finally get to meet her. We drove to the hospital. I had to focus very hard on breathing and relaxing myself as much as possible because the contractions were painful and increasing in intensity.

I knew from meeting with the midwife that it would only be a short time before I was to give birth and that since I had made it this far in the labor I knew I could go natural and non-medicated for the rest of the labor. But, at the same time I really wanted to enjoy my labor experience and not be wincing from the pain the entire way through. I requested an epidural when I got to the hospital, and after about 10 minutes I started to feel very relaxed. Paul, and I along with the midwifes were laughing and enjoying each others conversation. We even had some snacks and fruit juices as I dilated. Since the epidural can tend to slow the process, they recommended a little Pitocin to keep things going. I was really happy to find out that it would only be about another 1.5 hours until I could start pushing.

Around 6 PM that evening I felt some pressure on my lower pelvic area and knew instinctively that this meant that I was 10 centimeters dilated. The midwives confirmed that I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. After about 3 pushes our second beautiful daughter Aislin was born at 6:22 PM. Paul caught her with one hand as she gently slide out of the birth canal and held the camcorder with the other hand. Paul also cut the umbilical cord. Aislin was put on my chest and let out the most beautiful cry. Paul and I just looked at each other as I held Aislin. Our family is complete now; we are incredibly blessed to have two beautiful and healthy daughters.