10/22/2023
Theresa’s Birth Story | PART 1 (PC: .nolanphoto 😍)
The forecast: clear and warm — all week.
It was just after 1am and heavy splats started to rap against the window. Rain.
I woke up thinking pregnancy was getting the best of me and that I just couldn’t hold it. I went to the bathroom and changed my clothes, then went back to bed. A minute later, it happened again. Frustrated, I got out of bed to go back to the bathroom. Before I could even make it out of the room, my waters gushed out all at once, a growing puddle at my feet.
“Amor!” I yelled to Aramis, still asleep in bed. “My water broke!”
He sat up quickly, confused, and then jumped up to help me. I stood there like a statue, water still trickling down my legs, while he brought me some towels to clean up.
“I should probably call Caeli,” I mentioned to Aramis, who quickly agreed.
“How are you feeling?” my midwife asked.
“Good. No contractions yet. But I’m shaking a lot. I think it’s because I’m surprised.”
“Let me know when contractions start and when they are about 20-30 seconds long,” my midwife explained.
After our brief conversation, I decided to call my mom. I looked at the time. 1:25am.
“Are you having any contractions yet?” she asked, anxious and excited.
“Not yet.”
“Keep me updated!”
Not wanting to get anxious waiting for contractions to start, I decided to go back to bed.
Minutes passed. Sleep was nowhere to be found — just rest and growing excitement in the silence of the night. Soon I noticed a gentle tightening around my belly. Slowly coming and going.
Time passed quickly. 2:43am. Without realizing it, my contractions were growing. “One thousand one, one thousand two,” I would breath slowly through each wave. They were becoming consistent.
It was 3:06am when I called Caeli with an update: “The contractions are consistent now, but still only about 15 seconds long.”
“One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three,” I would count slowly through each contraction. Another wave. I timed one on my phone to make sure I was counting the seconds correctly.
Another contraction. 48 seconds long. 5 minutes apart. I had been timing my contractions too slowly.
