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Lessee, I woke up at 1ish in the morning, and I sort of had cramps, but not like usual menstrual cramps - more heavy, less sharp. I was pretty sure it was labor, though I was 10 days early...not sure how I knew, I just knew. Anyway, watched a lot of anime and groaned at home. I told my husband I did in fact need him to stay home from work. I never did get that insane nesting rush I heard so much about. John rubbed my back a lot (he's the only one who really does it right), and he fed me, and my parents came by with sushi around dinnertime, because I wasn't dilated pretty much at all. The midwife had sent me back home.

By 10pm, I was pretty much exhausted, and the contractions still weren't regular, but they were definitely more intense. I had gotten tired of groaning and vented my frustration by screaming instead - which I was later informed is a bad idea, it tightens things up and prolongs labor. Not that it mattered, they told me to come in and get checked again, and they noticed that I had scar tissue on my cervix. I knew I had it, I had had to have cryo for an irritated cervix in college, and if they'd asked me I'd have told them about it. ANYWAY, it turns out this was keeping me from dilating, so they broke up the scar tissue manually, which sounds like it should hurt but didn't, and I was then magically at 4cm.

So then the midwife offered me narcotics, something to do with helping me through since I was already worn out, and I said thanks but no thanks. I mean really - who has a baby *without* getting worn out? Besides, I was pretty sure I had it in me to go without. I had several trusted people there to take care of me. Then there was a fire. Yep. Electrical fire in the midwife wing. I hit transition at the same time the alarms went off. My mom pointed out how my legs were shaking uncontrollably - apparently this is a good sign and means you're almost done dilating. Woot! So i got wheeled through the emergency tunnel, laughing like an idiot because, dude, how many people have a *fire* during delivery?

The regular maternity ward was fine, but they just sorta unofficially had me there - I was never formally admitted. The midwives just borrowed a room. As it turns out, I seriously dig shower stalls. I commandeered oneof my helpers to have the shower head aimed at my lower back through the rest of dilation, and that was AWESOME. I was so tired at that point that apparently I nodded off between contractions. Cute. So then the midwife told me she was going to break my water sac, which meant I'd be able to start pushing, and that sounded pretty dang nice to me. Pushing was great, because I had one helper holding each leg up so I had something to resist against, leaving John free to do cheerleader duty. They brought in a mirror and had me touch the baby's head, which I didn't really care about - I was kinda busy, and figured I'd hold the blighter once it was out. But apparently it gives many mothers some nice motivation.

So then I heard: "And there's the head...and an arm!" Which was their surprised way of saying the kid came out Superman-style instead of just headfirst. So my now-definitely-son Lucien had given me a nice little rip in the perineum, but not all that bad, because he was teeny. Tearing does not hurt, as you're already stretched past the point where the nerves are active. I didn't feel the stitching happen, either. I think I got maybe three or four of 'em. Doesn't matter, I was busy singing to my son, and watching his Daddy hold him and pretend not to cry, and overall loving my family. Then I got loaded back onto a gurney and wheeled back to the midwife wing, and we tried to figure out what to do with Wee Guy, which is a surprisingly huge thing to think about. Then I passed out for about 30 minutes to an hour, and John drooled in the rocking chair with Wee Guy, and then we did groggy paperwork. Since the midwife services do not include an overnight stay, at 7am I was wheeled out to the curb, Lucien was installed snugly in his car seat, and John drove us all home. Where we all promptly slept muchly. At least five hours. And that was the longest we slept for many nights thereafter.

The End.

from things I have been told I do belive that I am currently in early labor
my lamaz teacher told us alot of the signs of early labor
the ones I seem to have are:
* contractions (weather to feel them or not)
* need to go to the bathroom more that you normally do (during pregnancy)
* lots of presure on the pubic bone
* and she said that some people like 1 or 2 days b4 dilivery have diarea, which i had yesterday morning

Thank you for the positive note there
but I am not very pain tolorant and I dont do well with needles(IV or Epidural)

I woke up at 2AM & cleaned the living room & then at 4 AM my water broke. I was also having irregular contractions all day. I dont really remember anything else, the doctors gave me morphine & I dont remember much of that day... Sorry I cant be more help.