Dec. 11th. I felt crampy all day and that something was different. I had the feeling that I might go into labor because I was having bloody show all day long. I started to have mild contractions at 11:30 pm. I went to bed at 12:30 am. I slept a little on and off, my contractions were getting more intense and and were coming every 10 minutes. Michael slept with Michael Jr. in his room and I didn’t want to wake him up.

3:30am, contractions were every 5 minutes. By 3:30, I had to get out of bed, I knew that I couldn’t sleep and they were getting more uncomfortable so I got my birth ball, CD player and stayed in our dimly lit bedroom. I listened to the hypnobirthing affirmations tape twice and then put on Enya. I labored in my bedroom by myself all night. It was nice. I didn’t want to call Britt (my Doula) because I figured if things slowed down by daybreak, I didn’t want to inconvenience her by coming over only to have things slow down or possibly stop. Well, things didn’t slow down and by 6:00 am I started to feel lonely. I called Britt and she said that she was on her way. I also woke up Michael so that he could take a shower before Britt arrived. I called my parents to come over to look after Michael Jr.

I suppose I didn’t realize how far along I was in labor. The contractions weren’t too intense until Britt arrived at 6:30am. I barely made it to answer the door and I’d have a contraction. She came into the bedroom with me and I continued laboring there with her. My parents arrived at 7:00 am and Michael made them breakfast. With each contraction, at the peak, I felt nauseous and didn’t realize that it was because I was going through “transition”. I decided by 8:30 that it was time to leave for the hospital so we went. Cindy Redmond, CNM was on call - hooray, she was with me for Michael’s birth. She checked me at 9:00 am and said “you’re 8-9 cm dilated” “WHAT?????” I said. Boy I was hoping that I’d be at 6 cm when I arrived. I was pleasantly surprised. We called Teresa (my Doula at Michael’s birth) to let her know and she came right away. Teresa wanted to be there to take pictures and also because she’s a friend.

I walked around a bit to get things moving along and then we filled the tub. I labored there and started to bear down with a bit of a cervical lip in the way, I had a bulging bag and Cindy thought that I might be able to get rid of the lip with a bit of pushing. Well, it was stubborn so she moved it back which wasn’t very pleasant. I started to push at 11:00am. The lip of cervix came back and Cindy said that if she pushed it back and broke my water, things would move quicker and I agreed. I felt her moving down and everyone gave me a lot of encouragement. Cindy made a big effort to guide me through the expulsion phase so that I wouldn’t tear a lot. It was incredible to have that much control and to sit there and watch the little head slowly ease out of me. It was the hardest part for me because I had to withstand the burning sensation for quite a while in order for me to stretch nicely. It was different then the first time because of how quickly Michael flew out of me. It was better this time. She was out and Cindy announced that it was a girl, I was overjoyed. Catherine was born in the tub at Hackettstown Community hospital in Hackettstown, NJ on December 12th 2002 at 12:28 pm. She weighed 6’6 and was 18 inches long.