What a wild ride!

And I was only the passenger! I posted right after I got home from CA about my friend, Jessica, who started going into labor. Well... that has pretty much been what I have been caught up with the last few days. The poor mama was pretty much contracting ever 10 to 15 minutes for days! Then her water finally broke a couple days ago and we thought things were going to go super fast. I went over for the day, but things didn't pick up as much as she had hoped. A mom I knew used an herbal tincture recently to "induce" her labor, so we tracked some of that down and I went to pick it up at the naturopathic college. She took a few doses, but it didn't look like things were going to start jamming, so I headed home. She pretty much hung out with off and on contractions the rest of the next day and then tried some other herbal mixtures that evening.

They ended up calling around 11 pm to say they thought it was it this time... and it was! She was in the tub when I got there and jamming along. She rocked through transition. I wouldn't have even known that was it except that she was shivering. Otherwise, the contractions hardly seemed any different. Pam and Lennon pretty much got there right around the time she started feeling pushy, and she was working through it pretty well until her csection scar started burning. She was really worried about how it was feeling and thought it might be tearing inside. Pam said that was normal, but I think Jessica felt like she would rather be in the hospital at that point. We thought she was so close, but her mom went ahead and called. When the ambulance got there, we seriously thought she was crowning, but she decided to go anyways. It turned out we were right... the baby's head was out before they even closed the ambulance door! So her baby was born in the driveway! What a story! It still counted as a homebirth and she got her VBAC, so those are the most important things!

She went on to the hospital to deliver the placenta and get stitched up. She got lucky with the most amazing hospital staff ever, and her nurse even asked if she was planning a lotus birth! They were all just really respectful of her wishes. There were so many people there that they didn't want to let the non family members in, so several of us didn't get to see the baby for over an hour later, but at least I got to get a peak at her before heading home. I didn't get back until almost 5 in the morning! Thank goodness it was Saturday and Ron was home to let me sleep in a little!

Pretty much all the pictures I took have nudity in them, so Jessica probably doesn't want them on my blog! But I wanted to include at least one with the amazing Nicole! That is her at Jessica's head. She is working on her doula certification, and this was her first birth, but you would sure never know it! She was so compassionate and always right next to Jess. After being with her there, I am really glad she is going to be at my birth as well.
And a little blurry, but I had to include at least one of little Sophia! Here she is just an hour or so after birth, still with vernix patches and a few flecks She took her sweet time. She is either going to be really stubborn or really patient haha.