I woke my partner up around midnight telling him it’s time….My partner was holding my hand and in the other the tank.

Shared here with permission: Lisa reached out to voluntarily share her birth story for GlowingwithBaby.com

Becoming a first time mom can be a wonderful but scary moment. I was so eager to finally meet our little girl and was so ready to pop once I hit 36 weeks. I just couldn’t stand the backache anymore, sleeping on my side was also not doing it for me and don’t get me started on the frequent peepee breaks during the night. Every 2 hrs. I was exhausted and wanted to jump at my Dr. throat when she suggested to rest more. Couldn’t help but laugh. But hey, you have to find the positive in it. Babies wake up every 2 hrs (on average) so I was getting ready for it. Thanks bladder. So my due date arrived, January 15th, finally. I was so ready, bag was at the door, friends knew to have their phones on to care for the dogs. And trust me, every little contraction or some sort of pain I felt I thought it’s time and nothing. Then finally January 17th around 10 PM. It started with a minor contraction that felt like my average period cramp, so I took a shower and got ready for bed. But baby had other plans, they quickly became stronger and closer together. I woke my partner up around midnight telling him it’s time. He had to call the midwife since I couldn’t talk. Obviously she told us to get on the road (average 45 min drive since my town doesn’t do births). So here I was, sitting in the passenger seat trying to breath through those contractions. I was never this uncomfortable in a car seat. I wanted to get out and move. It was raining hard but that’s all I remember from the drive. Oh and pinching my partners leg blue. We got to the hospital ward 1 AM. The midwife checked how far I was, 7 cm, lucky me! Baby was doing great too. So I got my laughing gas and walked up and down the hallways. My partner was holding my hand and in the other the tank. With every contraction I stopped, took a deep breath of the gas and once it was over kept walking. Highly recommend it. It was great and took the edge off just enough. The midwife told me to hop in the bathtub at 5 AM. It felt great too but for me I just wanted to move. Once I felt the urge to push the midwife wanted me out of the tub (it’s your regular sized tub and not meant for birthing). So I tried to get out but was “stuck” in a squatting position. Gosh that felt so good. But midwife said “not here, the room is too small”, looking at it afterwards, yes it barely fit 2 people outside the tub. So I walked over to the birthing room. They offered me a wheelchair but all I could think off, and i know it’s silly, but i swear it felt like that, was that once I sit down I will push the baby back inside. So I made it into the room but just held onto the bed, squatted in front of it and didn’t want to move any further. The midwife layed out a paper towel (I think) beneath me and layed on the floor with a light for a better view. My partner said it reminded him of an oil change. Men. At 6:08 AM baby girl was born. I’m glad I asked my friend who gave birth 2 years prior to me and she mentioned that you also birth the placenta. I had no clue and it felt weird when it came out. Like a huge blood clot. We stayed 1.5 days at the hospital and left with. Healthy happy chunky baby. The car ride back felt so unreal. All I could think of was “I’m a mom, I pushed out a baby, I’m not pregnant anymore … I can finally sleep on my stomach”!