davejenbarnes
We did it! No drugs!
Here’s the birth story if you’re interested. My first contraction started at 11:30 a.m. and hit me like an 18 wheeler. The next few contractions were 20-10 minutes apart. Within 3 hours, the contractions were still stronger than belief and about 7 minutes apart. I went through the emotional signposts very quickly and finally demanded that David come home from work at 4:00 when school was out. In the meantime, I called the midwives and they said to head in as soon as my husband was able to drive me. We got to the Birthing Center at 5:25 and were admitted to Exam Room One when the owner of the Birthing Center walked in and immediately moved me to The Windsor delivery room where the midwife performed the internal exam and claimed that I was at 9 cm! Holy cow! Within the next 2 contractions, the bag of waters broke and I was able to push whenever I felt like it, which was about 5 minutes later. After pushing for 20 minutes, Lowell Xavier Barnes was born, weighing in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces (one ounce lighter than James!) and 20 inches long at 6:04 p.m.
We arrived home at 1 a.m. and we would have been home much sooner if the postpartum nurse-midwife had already been trained in the discharge paperwork process. Dave and I had a restless night but are in great spirits and we’re both in utter disbelief at how normal I feel. I have even already danced a jig, taken a shower, and been walking around since 7 p.m. yesterday. I’ll be posting more pictures over time. But here is an example of how great I felt giving birth naturally:
