Background: Chloe was a 24 hr labor, and Ash 12 hrs.

I woke up around noon that day, feeling kinda funky I was having really weird stuff, like electrical pulses on my low pelvic bone. I thought it was just ligament stuff, I had never had labor pains that low, mine had always been really high. Anyhow, I was cutting out diapers on my craft table, sewing diapers for Ivy, and thinking that I needed to wash all her nb sized baby clothes that day just in case LOL. So I guess around 4, those low twinges suddenly started to hurt. I told Brad I thought that I was in labor, so we timed the contractions, and they were 5 mins apart, but before I could call the midwife, I had another one, only 3 mins later. So I called the midwife, she wasn't home, so i paged her. She called back and said that she was 45 mins from her house, and that she'd call me when she got home. She lives an hour away from me, so keep in mind already she's almost 2 hrs from me at this point so at about 5 pm, I start really hurting. I tell Brad to wash the bathtub and fill it up with warm water, that I can't wait for the midwife. So I'm in the tub, and Brad is out in the garage trying to turn the hot water heater up full blast, and I start howling for him to come back inside. At this point i'm thrashing in the tub, this hurts!! You still with me? Then I have this incredible urge to push.......and out shoots my mucus plug and my water bursts. Brad freaks out, says there is NO WAY he is doing this alone, as the midwife hasn't even called from her house yet. So he asks for my permission to call 911. I think about it for a sec, and decide that's probably the best, since neither of us has done a homebirth, let alone an unassisted one. So the dispatcher sends out a unit, and while they're on their way, she tells Brad to get me out of the tub, and put me flat so he can check and see if he sees the baby's head or anything else. So he puts the phone down, carries my huge naked wet self out to the living room, where he puts me on the futon which has layers of towels on it. He takes a look at what's going on down there, and as I have a contraction, he sees the cord popping out! He then tells this to the dispatcher, and she tells him to tell me to not push.. I told him to tell her to go @#$% herself...... at that time the paramedics come thru the door. Did I mention that I'm buck naked?? In the middle of the living room? I have another contraction, the paramedic sees the cord coming out again, and he says ok we gotta go now so they put me on the stretcher, wheel me out to the ambulance which is parked in front of my house. As soon as the stretcher is in the unit, I have another contraction and yell "I gotta push, get down there to catch her!!" and whooooooosh out she comes so he puts her on my chest, and wraps her up for me. Brad comes out to the ambulance to see me holding her, looking very disappointed that he didn't get to see her come out like he did with the other two. I ask if I can go back inside my house, since the baby and I were just fine. They say no, you're ours now and away we go to the hospital

Brad was writing a note to mil and Jade to leave on the front door, saying we went to the hospital and all was fine.

Ivy Kaitlin was born at 6 pm on Wednesday March 27, 2002, after 2 hours of labor.

Terri Hall of Full Moon Baby Gear