At 12:45 PM, my whole world changed....

She is here and she knows me. I am her Momma C.

Enough said.

Push her out, push her out... way out!

The pushing stage.

Melissa asks, "If 'we' are doing this, why am I in pain?"

Where is her head?

There is a lip.

Abbie is trying, Melissa is trying, I am but an observer.

(No, I am not writing this as she is deliverying my child.)

Mom says, "you look like a beached walrus."

We are going to the hospital.

It took them 4 hours to get an IV started and 5 sticks.

Finally relief.

We have 3 midwives and a doula with us. What would we do without our doula Kelly?

The bigger question is what would we do without our favorite Midwife? L. gives Melissa the courage to keep going. She is grounded and focused. Melissa adores her and will do what she says. I am glad she is present and it is a true honor knowing she will "catch" Abbie.

Melissa's mom tells Melissa, "You looked like a beached walrus..."

Thanks mom!

Abigail Who?

The contractions get serious.

Melissa asks me "Why did I want a natural birth?"

I reply, "You wanted Abigail to have the best birth possible."

Melissa asks me in a serious voice, "Abigail Who??"

One out of four Midwives....

Midwife arrives, then leaves. She freaks us out about Abigail's positioning.

What position is the baby in? She has been head down the entire pregnancy. Melissa would have known if she moved to a butt down position. She may not be able to describe it, but she could at least say the baby just did a move.

We are going for a Sonogram to check the position. That one is not good enough, I scramble and find a free standing one that will see us in less than 10 minutes. I make it in 8 all the way across town.

Baby is where she is supposed to be.

Back to the clinic. More exams, more frustration.

Water, water everywhere...

Melissa's mother is here. She decided the "we may be in labor" stress was too much. We have been watching a movie and Melissa is running to the bathroom every 5 minutes. We are watching a movie about travelling pants?? Don't even know the title. I am way too distracted by Melissa, contractions and my own thoughts.

Melissa came back down at 8:15 Pm, she says "don't get excited but I think my water has broken."

Don't get excited?? Is she out of her hormonal mind?? This is it!!

Melissa continues to have slow leaks over the next hour and I call the midwife. She doesn't believe us. She wants to examine Melissa and I tell her NO! Every time Melissa gets on the phone with one of them after 4 days of contractions, they make her cry. I am going to be the go between.

My least favorite midwife is going to be here in the morning to check things out.

OK, breathe!

Contraction, contraction, where's your action?

Melissa's contractions are 10 minutes apart.

They have been 10 minutes apart for one or two days. However, she is not having pain and the contractions are not doing anything.

The PBS song that came on TV when I was a kid, conjunction, conjunction what's your function keeps romping in my head.

I left you a present in the toilet...

My wife tells me there is a possibility she has lost her mucus plug.

I of course ask her what it looked like. She is out of adjectives and informs me she simply decided to leave it in the toilet so I could see it for myself.

Now, I am not always a fan of someone leaving anything in the toilet for me to examine. In this case I needed to know, so we could prep the aqua doula and get the supplies ready in case she goes into labor.

All I can say after seeing it is, yep, Melissa has lost her plug.