Well there's definitely something to the full moon theory. The moon was very full on the 4th and 5th. On the morning of the 5th, I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions (false labor) fairly regularly most of the day. I had a midwife appointment that afternoon. Teresa said I was at 2 cm, 30% effaced. Around 6 that night, they got a wee bit more intense, but not what I would call painful, just uncomfortable. They also started to behave more like "real" contractions in that they would start and then get stronger, peak, and then fade. I called Teresa to let her know they were "getting interesting" and she told me to lie down to see if they went away. That took the edge off them a little, but they were still around every 4 minutes. She asked if I wanted her to come (they could sleep in our guest bedroom until they were needed), but I said I wasn't sure this was really labor and I'd hate them to drive an hour and then have to turn around later. So I did some vacuuming and other last-minutes chores and we were in bed by 10. Doug had his clothes laid out and his alarm set to get up to go to work like usual. I figured if this was really it I would wake up around 3am w/ real contractions and I could call everybody then like I had w/ Noah and Claire.

I woke up around 2:30am to use the bathroom and got back in bed to go back to sleep. I was still having light contractions every 4 minutes or so, about the same as when I had gone to sleep. I remember thinking they better pick up soon if I was going to have my 3am "epiphany" of labor. About 2:45am I felt something warm like my water had broken. I grabbed a towel by the bed and went in the bathroom. I was horrified to see it was a fair amount of blood and not amniotic fluid! I've always heard if you see blood to call somebody NOW! So I sat on the toilet and yelled to Doug to bring the cell phone because I was bleeding. This woke him up in a hurry and I called Teresa. She thought it a bit unusual but did not think it was placenta previa as she had felt the baby's head yesterday near my cervix, not placenta. She also doubted it was a placental abruption. Nevertheless, she and Ouida were getting in the van to come to our house before we hung up the phone. I got back in bed and laid down. The contractions started to pick up considerably in intensity and number. Doug got the bed ready and I just concentrated on relaxing. We called Angie and Ashney (friends I had invited to the birth) at 4 to tell them it was time to come. I told Doug I was not going to make it to the afternoon, that this was going a lot faster than w/ Claire (she was born at 1pm). Doug thought it might happen by 8am. Teresa and Ouida arrived around 4:30am. She asked me where I thought I was dilation-wise, and I said around a 7 (in terms of the way the contractions felt). She checked and I was at 6 cm. They just got stronger and closer together and I was starting to have a hard time dealing w/ them. Teresa felt like the bleeding was from my rapid dilation and effacement. Ouida started an IV because of the blood loss before. Teresa checked me and said the baby's head was sitting on my pelvic bone and not descending into the birth canal. She had me lie on my back for a few contractions to see if this would help w/ that, but it did not, so she carefully broke my water between contractions (to avoid a cord prolapse). This was a little after 5am. The baby's head came down and then the contractions got really bad. I felt like they were almost continuous w/ no rest between them. My hands started feeling very shaky and numb and weird -- I have no way to describe it accurately other than it was awful. This happened w/ Claire and so they gave me some oxygen. Ouida checked my blood pressure and it was fine. They said my shakiness was probably a hormone rush rather than a blood pressure problem. (My face was also very blotchy red all day Tuesday and Wednesday, like I had a weird rash. It looked normal on Thursday, the day after the birth. I'm guessing more hormones?) The baby kept coming down the birth canal and I had no control over anything. I finally experienced an urge to push and tried to but felt like most of it was totally involuntary. It was terrifying. (Afterward, Doug said I had been screaming but I told him that wasn't screaming as I could have been a LOT louder.) I told him to go get Noah quick. Noah was afraid to come in the room because of the noise but he put his stuffed animals over his ears and was brave! So he was just in time to witness the birth. I don't remember doing much concentrated pushing at all, really. Chloe came out face up at 5:25am. She had lots of dark hair and vernix (thick creamy stuff that keeps the baby from getting "pruney" from the amniotic fluid). She had no problems breathing and pinked up pretty quickly. I could tell right away she was smaller than Claire, under 9 pounds for sure. In fact she looked like a skinny Claire to me. She was 20 inches long like her big sister but only 8 pounds 6 ounces, whereas Claire was 9 pounds 10 ounces.

My mother was not able to make it to the birth because of a family emergency in Kansas. I had been a little disappointed that she would not be able to come if I went into labor this week, but she wouldn't have made it in time anyway. I would have called her at 3am but she would not have gotten here before 6am, a good 30 minutes after the birth. So that made me feel a little better about it. Doug's dad was in town for business so he got to come by that afternoon to meet his new granddaughter (what incredible timing, praise God!).