I figured it's been two months, I might as well get this up here. I have actually had it all typed up but haven't put it on my blog!

London Epley's Birth Story:
I never had any idea of how my birth was going to go, it was hard enough for me to imagine having a baby and where the baby was going to come out. Everyone always said that I need to write what my ideal birth looks like and what I want while I am giving birth. The only thing that I came up with was, no hospitals, no medicine and a healthy baby, as far as candles, music, etc I just really did not care. I do remember thinking about trying not to be demanding and bossy, and wondering if I would feel awkward with all of these people seeing me in that situation. I just could not picture it at all.
I had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions for awhile before he was born, and I also had various labor scares, although I never called Mountain (my midwife) to early! I think that I went into Labor on Halloween because no matter what, my contractions would not stop, they were regular all day and all night, through trick or treating with my sisters and everything. The next day Bryan had to be at work at noon and as I kissed him goodbye I asked him if he would be mad if we had a baby today (of course he said no) I did not want my contractions just to be Braxton Hicks so I took baths and slept to see if that would change things but it didn't. Bryan was due to be home around 8:30 and Camille kept asking me if I wanted her to come over and I kept saying no because I did not want this to be false and waste her time. She said that I will know if I am for sure in labor at 10 pm that night, I shrugged that off because I felt that there was no way that she could know. I asked Bryan to bring home Taco Bell because I REALLY wanted a cheesy bean and rice burrito for some odd reason. When he got home I was only able to finish half of my burrito and just wanted to walk around the house for a bit. Bryan kept asking if he should set up the birth pool but again I did not want this to be another fake labor so I told him to hold off. He also asked me if I knew if I was in labor or not so that he could call his work and start his week vacation, I laughed and said that he will know for sure only when the baby is here. So we were walking around the house, laughing and having fun and when I would get a contraction I would stop and squat down. One time that I did this I ran to the bathroom afterwards only to find a large amount of mucousy blood, so I freaked out and yelled “honey, lot's of blood, I need new panties and the phone please.” Bryan freaked out and started to get the tub ready as quickly as possible, all while I was in the bathroom. At first I called Camille and realized later that I should have called Mountain first because Camille's husband had answered and I had never heard his voice before when I asked for Camille he said “ are you in labor?” Which kind of freaked me out because he did not even say who he was or anything so I said “well I don't know I should have called Mountain I am sorry, I will call later, I am sorry” He said that she was sleeping and I was still freaking out and said “ I will call later, bye” So then I called Mountain, who sounded like she was also sleeping and I thought to myself, “crap everyone is asleep I hope this is the real thing.” So I told Mountain what happened and she said that she was going to come over because she wondered if maybe my water had broke or something. I was again worried that this wasn't going to be the real thing and she was wasting her time. It felt like 5 minutes before she got here which was really fast, but I was glad. Bryan and I still were laughing and joking and hugging. She took my vitals and said that she wanted to time the contractions for a while so I just sat on the birth ball and squatted and told her when I was getting contractions which wound up being every 1-2 minutes apart. Bryan was doing the dishes and he asked Mountain if he should put water in the pool , at this point I wanted to get in so I thought that he should, which he did. My back was on fire now, but my contractions were still not that bad. Guess what time it was.....10:00 pm, I guess Camille was right. About an hour after Mountain had been here she called Camille and my mom to come over. My mom came with a bunch of towels and her camera (of course!) I got in the pool shortly thereafter and Camille came after that. Everyone left Bryan and I alone in the room, me in the tub, Bryan looking sad that I was in pain. The contractions hurt but I could still talk in between them. Bryan was making me laugh so hard, I don't even remember what was so funny but I remember that it hurt to laugh so I started getting pissed that I could not stop laughing. The water felt so good, my back pain immediately went away and I felt at that point that this would not be so bad.....HA! I don't know how long I was having contractions but I do know that I had a minor urge to push so I was and nothing was happening. I do remember that at one point every one came back into the room and asked how I was and I could not really talk so they just stayed for a little while and watched me. I said that I had to pee and at this time Bryan had joined me in the pool and everyone said pee in the pool it's sanitary and I looked at Bryan who looked slightly grossed out and said “you can pee in the pool too.” Everyone laughed and so I just peed in the pool, when I thought I was done it felt like I was still peeing and I realized that my water broke, that was a relief. So I continued to have contractions and I was continuing to push when I had them. Mountain came in and did a vaginal exam because she didn't want me to be pushing prematurely. She said that she could feel a tiny part of the cervix still in the way of the baby and that it would really help if I got out of the pool. I really didn't want to because I could not stand the pain of the contractions and I was comfortable being in the pool and was scared of the pain outside of the pool. I got out anyway because I needed this to be over and if that would help then so be it. I was SO dizzy when I stood up and they kept telling me to squat but that was the most uncomfortable position to be in. Mountain asked if she could listen to the baby so I layed down on the bed and let her listen to him. At this point I was yelling that I could not do it anymore and that I wanted to go to the hospital and everyone kept saying that I was almost there and that I could do it, which pissed me off because I really did not think that I could do it and I just wanted to go to the hospital. I layed on my side and when the contractions came I cried and screamed that I was done, but in between contractions I felt so comfortable and I would fall asleep but when a contraction came I got so mad because I was so comfy and I cried again. I don't know how long this continued on but I was out of the pool for as long as I could be before I wanted back in. Throughout all of this I was still pushing and Mountain did another exam and could not determine if my cervix was in the baby's way or if it was tissue of some sort. So she said that she wanted me to try not to push and just breathe through my contractions, which I tried hard to do, but was still crying and in pain. Then as I was falling asleep between contractions and then being abruptly woken up I remember looking up and just seeing my mom in the room and Bryan sleeping on the bed. My mom looked freaked out and asked me what I needed, I said nothing. Then I remember pushing and my mom asked me if I had the urge to push or if I just thought that is what I should be doing because I shouldn't push to early. Again I had to breathe through them, which at this point I had stopped crying and asking to go to the hospital I was just falling asleep in between contractions and breathing through them. Then all of a sudden I felt the baby's head and that piece of whatever Mountain had been talking about just move out of the way and felt the desperate need to push. I glanced over at my Bryan and saw that he was still sleeping then looked at my mom and said, something changed, and she ran out into the living room and said that I think something changed. Next thing I know everyone is in the room and I am pushing and feeling that these pushes are good pushes and I was worried because Bryan was still sleeping but then suddenly he was behind me helping me be strong and push. Everyone was looking at my who-ha, is all I remember thinking, but they were all saying that they could see the baby and that I was doing great. I was pushing SO hard, I needed this to be over, I needed to hold my baby. I kept pushing and felt his head with my hands and then I got flashes of being a mom, and I got scared because this was real and I would be a mom in a few minutes. I looked at my mom who still looked freaked out but had her camera ready, and she said that I was doing great I got refocused and pushed harder. I felt his head trying to fit through the opening and as I felt it stretch I just felt burning pain, and it got worse and worse until *POP * his head was out. Mountain told me to reach down and catch him so I grabbed him and gave another little push and pulled him up to my chest, and cried and held him and kissed him and looked at his beautiful little face. Bryan was behind me and he was smiling and looking at little London and he just looked amazed at what I had done. I kept asking if London was OK because he was just looking at me but everyone said yes he is fine. He was fine, he was just born naturally into this world and was actually alert!!I got out of the tub and layed on the bed and just stared at him. During this time it was slightly scary because I almost fainted a few times and before the Placenta came out I lost a lot of very large clots and my uterus was not clamping like it should, so Suzanne Ryan was called and she came and stitched me up, gave me potosum, and fluids. I felt better then. Throughout my whole labor I was throwing up and when I was given a glass of orange juice I threw that up to and did not want to eat anything for a long time. London was perfect, he latched on right away, and did not cry but was looking around taking his new world in.
It was perfect, I am glad I didn't go to the hospital because London would not have been as alert then.
He is still perfect, the best baby I think I could ask for.