BIRTH STORY IN HONOR OF CANCER SEASON

I began to have mild contractions at home on 4th of July evening. I made tacos and Troy had come home early from work. I was pacing around the house a lot, googling birth and contraction facts. My dog Kane was pacing too ! The pains I had were faint, but grew by the hour. They began to happen closer together and became more intense. Once my contractions were really painful I kept feeling the urge to sit on the toilet, so I did (a million times). We had already gone to the doctor 2 days prior because I could feel Phoenix coming. They told me he wouldn’t be arriving anytime soon but I knew otherwise. He wasn’t due for another week.

My water broke with a LOUD pop sound right there on the toilet. My “hospital bag” was semi packed. We grabbed a few more things we needed and got in the car. By then, my contractions were CRAZY. The drive to the hospital was a dark , LENGTHY eighteen minutes. My water broke twice in the car (we had no towels). There was water everywhere. With that, came more pain. Troy was driving pretty fast, I felt every bump in the cement on the way there. At the time, I was thinking about the pain ahead and how much pushing may hurt. I was praying all the lights would stay green as we approached. My sweatpants were soaked and Troy and I were both nervous. The ride to the hospital was definitely a movie scene. At the red lights, I would glance over at Troy wondering how different our lives would be after all of this.

A lot of the check-in process and procedures were honestly a blur. When we got in the hospital we couldn’t remember where the labor area was, even though we’d taken a tour a month prior. I was in labor for almost a full day. There was a lot of sleeping and waking back up, then sleeping some more. I was on several different medications which caused me to shiver uncontrollably. My mom made me tea and we just talked and I slept many hours. I wanted my experience to be calm. I am a private person and I didn’t want many people there when I gave birth. My mom flew in from Texas, so it was just us three. Looking back, Im really glad I did it that way.

Even though my water had broken Phoenix was taking his time entering the world. We were glad because we didn’t want him to share his birth day with “Independence Day”. Finally after 20 something hours, it was time to push. I asked for the lights to be out, so there was only one tiny spotlight above my bed. I held my legs with a cool towel over my face and after 30 minutes of pushing, there was my son. Pushing took real strength. Strength I didn’t know I had. The release I felt when he finally was out of my body felt like freedom and lightening. He came out silent but his eyes were open and he was checking us all out. The moment was really emotional and happy. An exhilarating happiness. When he came out, he had rich chocolate skin. He was beautiful. Bringing him earth-side was my biggest accomplishment ever.

Here's a special shot from when I was pregnant (on our babymoon) and when Phoenix was a day or two old. Now our baby is almost TWO YEARS OLD.

What three words would you use to describe your birth experience?