Eva's Story

Our baby girl was born on Monday, November 11th at 7:46 pm. She was born 10 days after my due date, so of course we were waiting like crazy already. I had gotten a membrane sweep around my due date but nothing changed. The week before she was born, my doula, Shea, recommended pumping or taking the midwives brew. On Thursday, I did the pumping session for 2 hrs 20 mins, and I felt some very light cramps here and there but nothing else. Every night I went to bed with high hopes that maybe labor would start, but it didn’t.

Friday went by and nothing happened. Saturday was another normal day, but then from Saturday to Sunday night, I felt some on-and-off period like cramps. Around 5 am, I woke up and went to the bathroom and lost my mucus plug. I was all excited and couldn’t sleep for a while. The on and off cramps lasted for a while, but when I woke up Sunday morning, everything was gone and I felt normal, so I was kinda discouraged.

I texted again with my doula and she recommended doing another pumping session and if that didn’t help then to take the midwives brew. So I did another pumping session for 2 hrs and sat on my yoga ball and did squats and just hung out with Isaak. When I finished pumping, we decided to get out of the house for a bit because I was not in the best mood. We went to Cavenders and just walked around. From there we decided to go to HEB to buy groceries. That’s when I had my first real contraction! They continued as we walked the aisles and I was just so happy that I felt a change. They were pretty mild but got slowly stronger so that right before we were checking out, I had to stand still a bit and focus on the contractions.

When we left the store, I didn’t want to go home; I was afraid of getting in the same mood from before and worried it would cause the labor to stop. I wanted to do something that I enjoyed, so we went to a restaurant and had dinner. Labor was getting more intense, but I was just trying to relax and letting my body do its job. After dinner, my doula told me to take a bath and try to sleep. I slept a few hours until the contractions woke me up around 12:30 am. I labored all through the night. Contractions still were pretty irregular and in the morning my doula called to check in, but during the call my contractions kinda stopped. 

I had an appointment that day at The Birth Center. Katy checked me and said I had dilated to 4-5 cm and that she was pretty sure we were gonna meet our baby girl by that evening. She monitored me and baby girl for a little while and recommended doing the miles circuit at home to get baby in the best position. 

We went home and ate lunch. I updated my doula and she said she’d head over from Lubbock. I did the miles circuit and that got me into active labor. After that, I really couldn’t find a comfortable spot. Around 4 pm my doula arrived at our house and we chatted for a bit and to our surprise, contractions again stopped. or at least they were not as intense, so she left to get something to eat while I rested. She told me to let her know when I wanted her to come back. 

Not long after she left, I was just tired and had so much pressure down there, it almost felt like baby would come. I joked to my husband that if she would be born now, we wouldn’t even have to drive to The Birth Center. Soon after, I told my doula to come back. She asked if I wanted to take a bath but I wasn’t really comfortable, so she asked if I would like to go to The Birth Center and get in the tub there. I said yes, that’s what I had been thinking! She helped get our bags in the car and stopped us on the way out of the house for a quick photo of the two of us before the baby arrived. 

During the drive, I had three contractions. When we arrived at The Birth Center, Katy was already preparing the tub. I laid in the bed and it was so cozy. They set it up very nice with lots of pillows. My doula massaged my back, which felt very nice. They turned on the diffuser and set the lights low. I didn’t feel like listening to music, so they turned on these relaxing sounds. I was so relaxed and cozy and soon after I got in the tub, they offered Isaak to get in with me and I was able to lean on him.

Katy checked me again and I was 8cm dilated. We just waited and I was breathing through and totally surrendering to every contraction. I had the ABSOLUTELY best team. They guided me and were so encouraging, so supportive, and so sweet. They made me feel like I did everything right. I saw how they were getting everything ready for baby to arrive and I thought of how I could still smile in the last stage of labor—I was just so excited to finally meet my sweet baby that I had been waiting for so long. That’s all I could think of, even in the pain.

Soon enough, I felt my body wanting to push. And after 15 minutes of pushing, baby girl was born in the water at 7:46 pm. It felt like heaven on earth!  We got out of the tub and into the bed. I birthed my placenta and Isaak cut the cord. Shea took the placenta to make capsules. Unfortunately, I had to get stitches, but it wasn’t much. I was just happy that I had my baby. While they stitched me up, baby girl was already nursing and after a few hours, we went home!