River’s Birth Story

2:15am on 3/26/26 – I was 38w5d. I woke up to some pretty moderate cramping and a small gush of liquid in my pants as if I had peed myself. I was pretty sure my water had broken.

It felt so similar to my early labor with Rex that I figured this could be it. River could really be on her way.

I casually glanced at the phone every time I felt a contraction and they were about 10-15 minutes apart and 1-1.5 minutes long. Regardless, I knew I had some time (hopefully) based on how far my contractions were, so I tried to go back to sleep for the time being. Unfortunately I was unable to and laid awake in bed for the next 2 hours. Contraction timing didn’t change, but I did figure it was best to tell Michael since at that point I was pretty confident that this wasn’t false labor.

4:30am – I woke Michael up to let him know what had been happening the past couple of hours. He suggested that we call my midwife and both of our parents. We called my Midwife, Mary, and she said to continue to try and rest and keep her updated. We called my mom, who didn’t answer at the time because she was still sleeping. I knew my dad would be up, so I called him instead and he quickly got my mom on the phone. My mom wasn’t supposed to come for several more days but she would immediately look for a new flight to get out to AZ a soon as possible that day. We also called Michael’s parents to let them know as well since we would probably need Tonia to help with Rex if he was awake around the time River was born. Michael went back to sleep and I continued to lay in bed awake, feeling the contractions now range from 7 minutes to 10 minutes apart at this point.

6:30am – I told myself that I would get up and get moving just to see if I could get my labor to progress. Everyone was still asleep and the moment I stood up I could feel my contractions intensify. I really wanted to curl my hair before River was born so I gambled with time and figured I could curl my hair before my contractions started to ramp up, still assuming I had enough time since my contraction timing hadn’t changed. I started curling my hair and within a couple minutes my contractions went from 7-10 minutes apart to 1.5 minutes apart. At this point I was tracking them on an app. It was painful and they weren’t spacing out. Everything was happening so fast, I was in denial that she could actually be coming soon, plus I needed to finish curling my hair! I told myself that once I was done with my hair I would wake Michael up and call Mary so she could make her way to the house. Meanwhile, I’m grasping the bathroom counter and deep breathing with every contraction, all while holding the curling iron in my opposite hand.

6:55am – I wake Michael up and I can barely walk around. I tell him to call Mary immediately. He calls her and then immediately calls our friend Skye (birth photographer) and his mom to come. All three of them are on their way. I make my way into the bedroom and instruct Michael to grab the sheets and shower curtain out of our closet and lay them on the bedroom floor. I knew I had to lay down now that I was in so much pain. I tried sitting on the toilet and immediately start moaning. The pain is getting so intense it felt like I was in transition! I know I’m getting close. I call out for Michael and find out he was feeding the dogs. I get him to help me to the sheet on the floor. I’m trying different positions like leaning over the yoga ball. Hated that. I get down on all fours and have lost Michael again. I find out he’s letting the dogs out. I moaning and yelling at him in between contractions to get into the bedroom and put on pants and his glasses because River would be here soon.

7:11am – I flip over to my front side and tell him that I am about to push this baby out and he is going to catch her. He said “Don’t push” and I replied “That’s not how this works!” Meanwhile, he calls Mary and I give one big push and boom, River’s head comes out. I tell Michael to grab her shoulders and give one more push and her entire body comes out Michael grabs her and I tell him to put her on my chest. I instruct him to grab a towel and we wrap her up, within seconds she is crying. Mary is still on the phone asking how River looks and helping us monitor bleeding. While she is on the phone we also deliver the placenta. Everything looks great and River is doing amazing. Within minutes of giving birth our friend Skye gets there and starts taking pictures and then within 10-15 minutes after Rex wakes up. Michael went to grab him and brought him into the bedroom to meet his new sister. It was such a sweet and special moment that we shared intimately in the comfort of our home. Soon after Rex wakes up, Tonia arrives and then minutes later Mary gets there.

Mary checks on me and helps me up to go to the bathroom. I shower while Michael gets some time with River and get situated in the bed. Skye leaves once she is done taking photos and Mary stays to clean up and do the newborn assessment. She leaves a few hours after the birth. My mom arrived later that afternoon.

I am forever grateful that we had such a beautiful experience bringing out daughter into the world together on our 10 year wedding anniversary. I am so lucky to have such an incredible husband who supports me and steps in at a moments notice to ensure that our sweet River is born safely.