My water broke early on the morning of Saturday, April 6, 2002. It wasn’t much, just a trickle, and there were no contractions yet. So I got up and went to some garage sales and spent the rest of the day straightening the house, resting, and playing with the kids.
Contractions started at some point during the day, but never got regular. I continued leaking fluid and having irregular baby hugs until Sunday night, the 7th. By 9 pm they finally settled into a rhythm of about 10 minutes apart. A thunderstorm began brewing outside and I knew it was going to be a wild night. As we lay in bed, contractions began getting stronger, while outside lightning flashed and thunder boomed. I felt myself being drawn into the storm….there was such a sense of primal earthly power laboring in the dark alone while my husband slept.
By 1:45 am they were strong enough that I needed to get up and move around a bit. I woke Kyron up around 3 am needing his help. We turned on a dim lamp in the bedroom, and prepared the bed with plastic covers and sheets. I had planned on laboring in an inflatable pool if it felt right, but after getting in the shower I realized I wanted away from the water during contractions. Kyron was a bit relieved that he didn’t have to fill that pool after all!
By 5:30 am Connor, our four-year-old, woke up and joined us. Kyron couldn’t take care of him and me both, so I called my mother and she was here by 6:30. By this time, I needed everything I had to stay focused and relaxed. I remember thinking that I would probably labor on for several more hours, not giving birth until maybe by afternoon. I’ve always had long labors, so I was mentally prepared for it.
Around 7:30 I hollered out to my mom, “How do you know when you’re in transition?” She was quiet for a moment then answered, “I don’t know, sweetie.” (She knew I was there, but she knew I didn’t want to hear it.) Kyron said, “Honey, I think you’re in transition now.” No I couldn’t be, I argued, “If I were in transition, I wouldn’t be talking sensibly to you right now!” I also remember feeling so in tune with what was going on in my body, I could actually feel a pulling sensation at my cervix during these strong contractions. I’ve never been aware of that before. I also found that if I dropped my jaw and moaned a low, deep OOOooooohhhhhh, during these intense hugs, I could feel a connection between my mouth and my cervix. I tried just blowing through a contraction once, and it was absolutely painful, in fact, I couldn’t catch my breath. So, back to deep moaning.