Our beautiful baby boy was due on December 25th…Christmas day! But boy was I anxious to have him a bit sooner so we could hold our most special gift by Christmas. Leading up to the birth, I had a little bit of a hunch he was going to arrive early, but I was so excited I didn’t know if it was my gut or just me hoping. Just in case though, two weekends before Christmas, we decided to do our Christmas get togethers with my husband’s and my family. That Sunday night, my husband’s family left around midnight after watching movies and enjoying peppermint cookies! Yay..my husband and I were now off work for Christmas and leave at this point and we were looking forward to some time to relax and breathe before the baby came.

Come 4AM, I get up for yet another trip to the bathroom. As I started walking back to bed, I felt water pour down. There wasn’t a ton, but it definitely seemed out of the ordinary…So to be safe I took the swab test my midwife had given me sooner to see if my water had indeed broken. And it had. I texted my midwife to confirm, and she said yes and told me to try and get some rest before the contractions hit. My husband was awake at this point since he heard me gasp from my water breaking. I let him know what Morgann had said…so we laughed at the fact that didn’t get much rest and thought we would try to sleep some more.

Roughly 20 minutes later, contractions began and I couldn’t sleep. The contractions were stronger than I thought they would be and I was also excited. So my husband got up with me, he prepared the room for the birth while I rinsed trying to relax. We made some breakfast and tried to put on a funny movie while going through contractions. Then they started to feel more intense and quicker together, so we let our doula and midwife know. The doula came over to check on me and also noticed my contractions being more intense. So Morgann headed over to check in. I thought I was further along, but it turns out I was not and was struggling to breath through the contractions. 

With Morgann and my doula’s help, I was able to slow down and breathe as I hopped into a nice warm tub to help take the edge off the contractions. I was able to slow down and start resting between contractions in order to save my energy. My amazing husband was by my side the whole time, making me laugh and giving me comfort as time went on. 

I do not know exact times as I did not look at my phone or the clock throughout labor as I figured it would just stress me out. So I did my best to go with the flow, getting in and out of the tub and resting on the couch or the bed. I believe it was in the afternoon when we got to a point where the labor was not moving along much, so Morgann helped me do some exercises to help get things going. I walked up and down the stairs, did some lunges, and took a lap around the culdesac in our neighborhood. 

After I got worn out from that, we decided for me to go rest and try to get some sleep through the contractions. My husband put on some Christmas movies and he closed the curtains and turned on the Christmas lights he had hung up for me in our bedroom. (He knows how much I love Christmas lights). My husband and I snuggled up watching movies and I partially got some sleep in between contractions. It’s amazing how that happens, but it did. And I honestly look back on this so fondly. It was pure magic being able to labor at home with our twinkling lights and enjoying some movies and snuggle to pass the time.

Throughout this time, Morgann was informing us of our options since the labor was moving along a little slowly and I was losing energy. It turns out my water had not fully popped, so later in the day we decided to pop the last bag of water in hopes that would help move labor along. 

Night time had approached, and I felt like I was in a trance and just flat out exhausted…feeling like our baby was never going to come out. I was half awake, half asleep. To be honest, I hardly remember this point because I was so tired. (Thank goodness for an amazing midwife, doula, and husband to keep me going). Morgann asked if I wanted a check in to see where we’re out with our little baby. She checked, and it turns out our baby boy was well on his way out! I was able to feel his head and he was so close to popping out! This news woke me up a bit and I was so excited. It was happening. Our baby boy was coming. And all of a sudden I realized the difference in contractions.

At this point I was laying on my side on the bed, but we had a birthing tub ready to go. Everyone offered to get the tub set up for birth, but I did not want to move off that bed. So I ended up staying on my side as I pushed and pushed, and boy that ring of fire was sure something. And what felt like two minutes later, our baby boy popped out in one push and my husband caught him! (In reality, I believe I was in active labor for 2 hours. But thank goodness it didn’t feel like 2 hours).

Instantly our baby was brought to my chest and that moment felt so surreal. I was in a bit of shock it had happened so fast. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. But, I remember feeling so much love for our baby boy that all of the pain of labor was gone in an instant and I was just soaking up this time. Our little Elijah was born at 1:09AM at 8 lbs and 7 oz.

My husband and I are so grateful to God for our healthy, beautiful baby boy. And we are so thankful to Morgann for being there every step of the way, helping us to feel confident in our decisions and for me to feel confident in birthing my son. I am also grateful we had a doula for extra support since this was my first baby–all thanks to Morgann for encouraging us to get one and setting us up. I also have to mention how amazing my husband is. He never left my side during the whole labor and did everything he could to encourage and comfort me.