The Birth Story---Miriam Sol Becerra

I thought that I would post a few thoughts/details about Miriam's birth while they are still fresh in my mind (although my mind is not very fresh with about 8 hours of sleep since Tuesday morning). Wowsa are they still fresh in my mind :). I am the worst person in the world about knowing when I am going into labor. My labor's start so gradually that I spend a large portion of time not knowing/denying that I am in labor. Not hard to do when I was having contractions 20 minutes apart for 2 days before hard labor started. Tuesday night around dinner time, I think Chris and I started realizing that this may be the real thing with contractions becoming a lot more painful. When I laid down to sleep at 9:00, I soon knew that there was no way that I would be sleeping that night.
When I am in labor, I am obsessed with being in the water. I got into the bath tub at around midnight and stayed for a few hours before we headed off to the hospital around 3:00 a.m. We went to the hospital a little earlier this time than we usually do. Upon arrival to the hospital, I immediately got into the water and stayed for another 4 hours. I think that I am pretty calm for the most part in labor, but I have to say that the couple of hours before I had Miriam were very intense and extremely unpleasant. Around 8:15, I felt the urge to push a little, but when they checked me, they told me I was only at an 8. I think that I psychologically made up my mind that this baby was coming, and at a 9,I started pushing. Pushing was insane. I pushed this baby out in 12 minutes!! Chris said that one second he saw the top of her head, and the next second, she was totally coming out. Like I said, I wanted the baby out :). When Miriam came out, is was so awesome to find out that she was a girl like I had suspected. It is so amazing how one minute I was in the depth of despair freaking out, and the next...I am holding my beautiful baby.
What a rush, and to share this whole experience with my husband was awesome. I can not imagine a better coach/partner in labor than Chris. He is pretty much a stud. He is so attentive during labor, putting chapstick on me or anything else that he thinks may distract me from the pain. Seriously....I am never more in love with my husband than when we go through this experience together (although at this point... I don't really see myself doing it again :). The nurses kept commenting on what a good team we are and I feel pretty blessed to have a great husband to share this experience with. I know that there are a million more details that I could share, but I am exhausted. Life is great. I adore this baby. The kids adore this baby. This recovery is going well.... although a bit harder than my last. Let's see if we can get some sleep tonight.