I waited impatiently for this baby, she was 5 days over her "due date" and since we were doing this ourselves, I didn't want her too big. I did some homeopathy that encourages labor, once the day she was due and then 3 days later, she came that night. I also did evening primrose oil a bunch the night I went into labor. We also had sex a lot around my due date and after, figured that it might help!

My son, who was 3 and 3/4 at the time of the birth was sure he wanted to catch the baby and I even got gloves for him. He was so excited when I told him that the baby would come that night that he didn't want to go to sleep for fear that he would miss it. He kept crying while I was trying to get him to go to sleep, he wanted that baby born right now and he didn't want to be left out!

I had light contractions, hardly noticeable, 15 minutes apart around 6:30 pm April 8, I took a bath and thought a lot about the baby and was trying to connect with her to see how she was and if I still felt comfortable doing this alone with my husband. All felt well. We ate dinner and went to the local store for Easter candy, as I figured that this would be the last chance to get it.

We all went to bed around 10 pm, nothing had picked up and I thought it would be nice to get some rest. At 11:30pm I woke up and decided to get things together, the contractions didn't hurt at all, but they felt different. I walked around downstairs and drank water and Gatorade, put in an ocean sounds CD in and lit candles. My husband came down, afraid I had decided to it without him! He brought our sleeping son down and put him on the couch, so he wouldn't miss anything, but would get some sleep.

At 12:30am I woke up my son and said that maybe the baby would come soon, he was so excited and ran to get his gloves on. This labor was so different from my first one, the contractions didn't hurt until the last few minutes and I was talking, walking and laughing with my family. My husband kept wondering when I was going to go crawl in the corner and moan, it was different in a really good way. But it left me wondering exactly how long this was going to take and how I would know when it was "time."

About 1 am things started to feel even more different, contractions were more forceful, but not painful, it just required my full attention during, but I was still doing all the walking, talking and laughing like earlier. I sat in my rocker/glider and closed my eyes during contractions and tried to listen only to the CD playing. I was doing bunches of squats and walking, I just felt like things weren't really getting anywhere. At about 2:40 am I wanted to lay down during the contractions, they were getting more powerful and I was getting tired. That ended up being an uncomfortable position, so I squatted, out came the mucus plug. I was somewhat irritated, because that ment that I was just starting to dialate! Then transition hit full force, I wanted to take a shower, the intensity was building. When I got to the bathroom I said I had to pee, when I sat down on the toilet I said through gritted teeth, "I have to push!" My husband stood there quite confused, we were going to birth this baby in the living room. But since the last one was born over the toilet, I knew better than to think that it might not happen again. My husband wanted me to go to the living room, I said "NO!" I also told him to hurry and get the video camera and point it in the room. I listened to the baby with the doppler I borrowed from my midwife friend and she sounded great, just then another contraction and my body was pushing. I threw the doppler at my husband and pushed while sitting, he told me to get up, I said "NO!" Just then the water broke and I realized that I had better get up or she might be swimming! One more push and Jeremiah saw the top of her head, another and her head was born, he said keep going and one more push and she flew out, almost hitting the floor! This was 2:55 am. As I look back at the video I realize that I pulled her out of his hands immediately, as a saw the cord near her neck, but it was really just over her shoulder. I yelled for a towel and wrapped her and rubbed her back and said "come on baby." I felt the cord still pulsating and knew she was fine, I also looked to make sure that she was a girl! She cried a little and I put her to breast, she sounded really clear, so I didn't want to suction. Her face and head were covered with vernix, really thick, she couldn't open her eyes! So I cleaned off her face and she looked around. Immediately her big brother was cooing in her face. In all the craziness I had forgotten to see where my son was. On the video I could see that as she was starting to come out he came forward, but when she "exploded" out, as he would say, he jumped back. He said "blood exploded everywhere!" My husband had quite a mess to clean up. I am sure that I must have torn somewhere inside with all the blood, but I couldn't feel a tear on the outside so I just didn't worry about it. Jeremiah helped me walk to the living room where I laid down on the floor to wait for the placenta. I clamped the cord and my son Hudson cut it, he was a little worried when a trickle of blood came out, but I assured him that was normal. We called my parents and Jeremiah's, who were all so surprised since we hardly told anyone that it would be unassisted. They seemed shocked at first and then proud that we all did so well.

I felt really wiped out after the birth, so I drank a lot of Gatorade and chlorophyll and waited to see how I would feel 6 hours later. The placenta came out about 30 minutes after the birth, so I think that I lost a little more blood than I should have and that was my body's way of compensating. At 6 hours after I felt really great and started calling everyone that we hadn't already called.

Nadia was a perfect baby and nursed great at first, then we had colic from hell until she was 12 weeks old. I think if it wasn't such a great birth I would have wanted to run away. She cried 2 to 5 hours each day nonstop with horrible stomach pain, I felt so sorry for her. I held her 24 hours a day and did lots of singing, rocking and bouncing. When she turned 12 weeks old, it was gone as quick as it came. I wouldn't like to relive the colic again, but we are a very connected pair. She nurses well and is healthy and is beginning to enjoy some time by herself on the floor. She is always so happy now and full of smiles and laughs for everyone. She is the little girl I''ve always wanted, and is already showing her big brother that he can't push her around!

Heather Osmolinski

JHHOSMO@aol.com