My first 3 children had been born before their due date, and here I was at 8 days past due. I had been in podromal/piddling along labor Tuesday into Wednesday October 15th and 16th for about 13 hours. They were not very painful contractions, but they got me from 3 cm at my appointment to a stretchy 4 cm the night before the birth. We discovered during these not very helpful contractions that Jackson's butt and back were leaning out considerably far in front of my pelvis. My doula took a large ace bandage and a long strip from an old bedsheet and bound my belly tightly. The point of this was to get Jackson to be in a much more in a vertical position, applying more pressure to my cervix during contractions. I walked around the mall and around my neighborhood that day and evening.

My midwife and doula came over Tuesday night and did some herbal induction techniques to get things moving, since he was 9 days late and I was ready to try to help things along. I was drinking piping hot super strength red raspberry leaf tea to help my contractions be more effective, and an herbal tincture to act sort of like pitocin would in a traditional hospital induction. I was really feeling like I was at the end of my rope emotionally when it did not seem like the herbal induction was doing anything, and I had a little pow-wow with my birth team around 11:30. I voiced my fear that that the baby might suddenly pass away in the womb because he was getting to be so much later after my due date than I was used to. We talked about a plan for further induction help if the herbal induction didn't work.

I tried to sleep after a few painful contractions that were spaced 10-15 minutes apart. My 2 year old woke with a nightmare and was screaming for me, so I went to hold her, and walked around in the basement with her. I guess the exertion plus that cathartic chat helped things along! Labor started around 2:30 am. I never really did get contractions any closer than 5 minutes apart and 45 seconds long, and largely, the first 4 hours were really not terribly painful. I spent about the first two hours on the birthing ball, chatting at babycenter chat and posting on boards I go to while I used an online contraction timer to keep track of my contractions.

When I got in the birthing pool around 4:30 am, my contractions stalled for about 45 minutes. I woke my older daughters up, who were 7 and 4 at the time, because I thought that the pushing stage would be coming soon. I just rested and hung out and talked to my mom and my midwife and doula. My oldest daughter drew me a picture, my kids went back and forth between the tv and the living room and the kitchen, where I was in the pool waiting for things to progress.

The contractions picked up again, and were the same 5 mins apart and 45 seconds long, but soon they got longer in duration. I mostly coped with them on my hands and knees in the pool and rocked front to back. My mom and my older daughters continued to keep me company and they along with my husband and birth team kept me focused and in good spirits. I was starting to feel as if I was on the clock, and was not producing a baby in enough time, but I quieted my heart and thanked God for each contractions that was bringing me closer to the baby being born, since I had felt so raw and desperate the night before.

I started pushing around 7:05 am, and tried a lot of different positions. The one that kept on working best for a long time was hands and knees, with my midwife applying counterpressure to my hips. She could feel him move down during contractions.

During one of the contractions, my midwife put her fingers in to feel the head. She decided that she should break my water because she thought it was all that was holding his descent into the birth canal back. It didn't seem to make much of a difference to me, but I kept on pushing. Eventually, I decided to ask Rob to get in the birthing pool with me. I got between his legs, and he applied pressure to my hips as I pushed. Then I asked him to hold me under my arms and I did several pushes in a supported squat. No dice.

Finally, his head was out while I was in the water. My midwife checked to see if his chin was out, and it wasn't. That told her that his shoulders were stuck behind my pubic bone. I was bleeding really badly, so she had me stand up in the water to deliver him, and I was holding onto the side of the birthing pool. She wanted to be able to see what she was doing, and she knew that the position would provide a better and wider escape route for him! She stuck her fingers in and dislodged his shoulder with my next push, and she guided him out and gave him to my husband. They were concerned about him being rather limp and purple, but he pinked up real fast after some oxygen and they handed him to me. He was beautiful, of course. He had some significant bruising and swelling from how hard I was pushing, but everything worked itself out within a few days! He is a natural nurser and also a very easygoing baby.