My first one, she came two weeks early during a heatwave in Seattle, I had a wild and dangerous cab ride to the hospital as soon as the cabby realized I was in labor (careening down the streets, running red lights), and by the time arrived I was in so much pain from labor contractions, I was walking up the stairs of the hospital hunched over, knuckle dragging. I was actually considering throwing aside my principles for the drugs when I was informed I was already too advanced so it was too late anyway. It was going to be natural childbirth for me, even if I did want to chicken out.

While waiting for my doctor to arrive, and after throwing the clipboard of forms at a nurse who’d been trying to get me to fill them out, that overwhelming urge to push hit, shuddering through my entire body. I hadn’t had childbirth classes because they were all full all over the city, but I’d read one chapter in a book that week informing me not to push when the push sensation hit, so I didn’t. After that, the contractions were faster and more furious, but without training I had to make up my own system for handling the pain. I pretended every contraction was a giant wave and I was surfing it. It really helped!

When her head was stretching my vagina I kept yelling, “It feels like a hot poker and a hot bowling ball! Can’t you just get the baby out?!” My doc would say, “I can if I use forceps. Is that whatt you want?” And I would yell, “No! No! Never mind! But it feels like a hot poker and a hot bowling ball!”

My water broke that morning after a sleepless night from the heat, and my daughter was there 4 hours later. (The women in my family are notorious for short childbirths. My mother’s shortest, with my sister, was only 45 minutes, which is dangerous to the baby!). I only had a few small tears; nothing requiring stitches.

After my wild taxi adventure and four hour labor and birth, I was all finished before they had a room ready for me so I reclined on the labor table, watching soap operas, and ate two entire trays of lunch while I waited for my room!

When I had my son, it was a C-section and I grieved over it afterward. I didn’t feel like I’d actually given birth to him, and really, that feeling has never gone away. I felt we were both cheated somehow, and in a way, so was his dad.

Thank you for the compliments, we think baby Sophie is pretty special!

May GOD bless you and your entire family.