Just, you know, laborin' and stuff

This is the second part of the little savage's birth story.

We woke up Saturday morning and thought, well, hey! This labor shit is so easy you can sleep through it! Haha, we were so. Stupid. Wait, why am I saying we? Husband did, in fact, sleep while I labored away but that was later. Anyhoo, we spent the day walking around the house, having mild contractions, visiting with my sisters and parents, rolling around on the birth ball (me), and rushing around Lil' H-town, frantically trying to accomplish all last minute tasks and errands (Husband).

That evening my contractions finally began to get stronger. When I felt one coming on, I'd grab the nearest person and hang onto their shoulders while I swayed my hips around. I had read in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth about something called "shaking the apples." Basically your enablers birthing support team grab onto your hips/hiney/legs and shimmy or shake or vibrate you during contractions. It relieves some of the muscle tensing that goes on during the "surges."

At around nine pm, we decided to head to our midwife's office. Because we live in our family home, I was worried that I would be uncomfortable giving birth and making birth noises while my dad tried to sleep or my little brother played video games or the dogs howled like idiots. Luckily, our midwife has a beautiful office ten minutes away from us with a nice big bed and a nice big tub that we were able to use. When we got there, my midwife checked me... And told me that I was a whopping two cm. Almost three. But not quite. I am disappoint (in my best Borat voice). And then came The Awkward Situation.

My mom is wonderful. She loves her children more than life itself. She would do anything for us. But she can be a little pushy (sorry, mom!) and she's definitely a worrier. Which then worries me. So, and I know this came from a place of love and concern, at the beginning of my pregnancy, she started worrying about me. About whether I could handle the pain and hard work of labor and delivery au naturale. That was kind of a blow to me - I know I'm a delicate flower, but I'm also stubborn as a mule willful determined. I knew I could birth my child just as good as any cave woman. But apparently in the beginning, my mom had some doubts. I hadn't ever given birth before, but I knew if my mom was there with a worried, oh-jesus-she-can't-handle-this, get-her-to-the-hospital mindset, it was going to seriously throw off my birthing goddess groove. Early on, I mentioned this fear to my midwife, which made her start to worry. It was a horrible wave of worry that was no good for anyone. So after she checked me that night, my midwife suggested that Husband and I get into the bed and try to get some sleep (for the second night in a row!) and have my mom and sisters go back home for the time being.

It sounded like a good plan - Husband and I would labor alone together for a bit and get some rest. My mom wouldn't worry about how long things were taking or how I was managing. Everyone could get a few hours of sleep (in theory) and we would call them to come back when things got a little more interesting. But telling this plan to my mom, telling my mom to leave me while her daughter was in labor, that was so. Hard. That was awkward, and uncomfortable, and I didn't know whether I wanted her to leave or not and I certainly didn't want her to be sad or hurt. That was the hardest part of my labor. Pushing a kid out my vag' was cake compared to seeing my mom's face when I told her we would call her when they should come back. But they left. Husband and I got into the big bed - oh, btw, I'm STILL in labor here, throughout The Awkward Situation and it's conclusion - and we tried to rest.

That husband of mine went right to god damn sleep, but what did I do? I cried for my flippin' mom.