Birth Story for Drake Agostino
Born: January 19, 2006 at 11:20am - 7 lbs. 1 oz. 19 inches long

I began having contractions the day before my delivery starting around 2pm or so. I didn't know it was real labor - I thought I'd feel more of the Braxton-Hicks type contractions, but boy was I wrong. Since I was mentally ready to give birth, I did some acupressure points and other natural things to speed up contractions and walked around, too. I don't know if it helped, but that night I couldn't get to sleep; the contractions were so bad and then at 3am, I woke up my husband to help me keep track of them and told him to call out of work.

My water broke around 5:30 am or so, which I didn't realize at that time exactly. I called my doula, Teresa Fischer, and told her what was happening and she came over and helped me through my labor. I also called the midwife on call (it was Roxie) to let her know to expect me sometime that morning, so I just continued to labor at home. I used so many positions and tried eating, as I was VERY hungry, but I was so very tired (not having any sleep the night before), but so wanting to have the baby.

The car ride to the hospital was 20 min. and it felt like an eternity! Apparently I was going through the last phase of transition in the car - not a good place for it.

When I got to the hospital around 9:45am, Roxie checked me and seen that I was fully dilated and ready to push out the baby. I went into the tub for pain management and began pushing. It felt great in the tub and didn't want to get out. My condition and my baby's condition was stable so I was able to try and have a waterbirth. I pushed and pushed and after taking Roxie's advice to feel my baby's head, that gave me so much more motivation and determination. Then... at 11:20am on the morning of Thursday January 19, 2006, my son - Drake Agostino was born!

I immeditately fell in love with him and although we didn't know his gender throughout my pregnancy, we knew he was a boy - I didn't even have to look between his legs. He was so beautiful! The birth was beautiful! To know I did it the way I wanted to, without medications, and to have such a healthy adorable little boy, feels tremendously rewarding!