From the moment I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted to try to have a natural birth. Despite the fact that midwives are not covered by Medicare in Nova Scotia, my husband Todd and I were willing to pay to have their expert support. Because this was our first baby we decided to have the baby in the hospital. Todd felt more comfortable there, and I knew that was important for us as a team, to have Todd comfortable. Midway through the pregnancy our friend Emily, offered to come out and be our Doula free of charge. Todd was a bit hesitant at first, he was worried she would be imposing on his role, however after some reassurance from Emily, Todd felt more comfortable.
It was 7:45 am and I was sound asleep on October 18th 2007, when my water broke. My bed was soaked! I was leaking amniotic fluid all the way to the bathroom. I never thought my water would break first. I was excited and nervous, I was really ready to have my baby. I called my midwife Kelly and told her what had happened. She was excited and told me to eat some breakfast, try to get some rest and to call when the contractions started. So I cleaned up, was still gushing amniotic fluid (Kelly said it was normal, when I moved the baby would shift allowing more fluid to come out), put some towels on the spare bed,(I had to strip my bed) and tried to sleep. Around 9am I had my first contraction, I waited 20 minutes for the next one, just to make sure, and then called Kelly. She said to keep resting if I could, the contractions would take a while to settle into a rhythm. Since Emily and her son Ethan had arrived the night before, Kelly suggested I wake Emily when I felt I needed someone around. I was too excited to sleep much longer, I went down stairs and watched a bit of Pixars ‘Finding Nemo’. At 11 am Emily and Ethan woke up. (They had spent the day flying, so I wanted them to rest, especially since Emily was going to be up with me for who knew how long). I barely gave Emily time to wake up before I spurted out ‘I’m in Labour’.
I took care of her son while she showered and called her sister to come and take care of Ethan while Emily helped take care of me. Todd called from work to check up, as he always does, and I told him it was time to come home. He was so excited he didn’t say goodbye. While Todd drove Emily’s son to her sister’s home, Emily and I went for a walk. It was a beautiful, warm fall day. The sky was blue and the weather was warm, it must have been around 15 degrees. My contractions had been slowly getting stronger. While on the walk I had to stop a few times. But I was still talking a lot, and still excited. I had no back labour and I was managing well through the contractions, although it was harder to try and relax your body than I thought it was going to be…My best friend from BC called, since in the morning I had put on facebook that I was in labour. She was so excited and since she has two children she gave me encouraging words and support.
Around 1pm Kelly arrived, Emily had been phoning people and keeping track of my contractions for me. I was in Active labour. Todd was by my side giving me strong support. Emily was always ready with something for me to eat or drink, or to give Todd a break. I laboured on the exercise ball, in the bath, up and down the stairs, even on the toilet. I found movement, vocalization, and massaging my thighs and bum a huge help in releasing the energy of the contractions as well as helping them flow through my body. It was tiring and hard work, but Todd, Emily and Kelly were so supportive. They all helped physically, emotionally and psychologically. Emily and Kelly are both mothers and have been through labour, they had great suggestions, went through the vocalizations with me. Todd held me, swayed with me, let me rely on him completely. All these things helped me through the contractions.
When I had reached 7 cm Kelly decided it was time to head to the hospital. It was one of the most difficult times, but somehow I made it there. Once there we had a private room and a private nurse, and although the nurse was a nice young lady she was nothing compared to my three main supports. We arrived at the hospital around 7pm and Dr. Cervin our obstetrician arrived around 8pm. She had me lay on the bed, something I did NOT like doing, and found part of my cervix swollen and not fully pulled back. She said she wanted to see if I could labour more to have it pull back on its own. I laboured in the shower for a while, that was the only time I thought about taking drugs, and by this time I was 9.5cm so close to pushing but I didn’t know it. After about an hour the Dr wanted to check and see how I was doing. I begged her that I not go back on the bed, it was too hard for me to manage the contractions while on my back. She obliged and so I squatted while she went underneath me. Unfortunately the cervix was still stuck, so she pushed in back during a contraction. Finally I was ready to push. As they tell you in prenatal class the haze of labour lifted, I had an adrenaline rush and was eager to see my baby. For the first 15 minutes I enjoyed the control I had back. However when the Dr. and Midwife told me I had to push through the pain to get the baby out I finally started to get serious. About 45 minutes later our Son Caleb was born. No drugs, just excellent support and a belief that my body/I could do it.

Laura K, Halifax NS