I never knew how much I would love a quiet home until now.  My sweet baby is sleeping and it is nice to just have a little time to myself!

I wanted to share my birth story with the world to give any future mommas confidence in knowing that you can have a birth that is wonderful- and nothing like what is portrayed in the movies.  

It was 2:30 am on April 18th and I woke up as I usually do to go to the bathroom, but this time I felt a little different. My water had broken just a little bit and I started to have contractions. I decided to start timing them. They were consistently 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute or so.  I remember my doula telling me that if I started to have contractions in the middle of the night that I needed to try to sleep through them, if I could, to save up my energy for the hardest part of labor. So I did my best to follow her advice.  

At 4:00 am, I tapped my husband on the shoulder and told him it was baby time. He got up and called our doula and started to get our bags ready to go. Meanwhile, we decided to draw a hot bath so I could work through my contractions. After 10 minutes, my contractions got worse so we called our doula again and told her that I was ready for her to come over and help me through my contractions.

We rushed downstairs in between one of my contractions to sit on our exercise ball and all of a sudden I felt a huge gush of water as if I had peed my pants!  It was then that we knew our little guy was definitely coming sooner then we expected. Finally our doula arrived in time to help me through another contraction before I felt an automatic urge to push. Surprised at how quickly everything was moving, she decided it would be smart to check to see how far along I was. She looked at my husband and said the head was very close and that we needed to rush to the hospital right away. We were expecting to work through contractions most of the day in the comfort of our home, but after only a few hours- it was time.

We rushed into the car, and after they helped me inside, our doula turned to my husband and said “Everything is going to be okay. If you feel the urge to push, try to fight it until we get to the hospital. But… if you can’t, pull over and I can catch your baby if that is what needs to happen.”  Both my husband and I were shocked. After years of imaging the birth of my first child, I was determined to not let it happen on the highway!.

So, we were in transitional labor on US-71, and it took everything in me to fight the urge to push. I opened my eyes for just a moment and saw that there was an accident stopping traffic on the highway! Luckily, the traffic started to move after only a few minutes so we picked up speed and started racing to the hospital.  During this time I felt like I was in my own world.  I barely noticed much of what was going on around me.  All I could focus on is each contraction and getting myself through every one, being thankful for the minute or so of rest that I had in between.  Finally, I heard him say, “Hey babe, look, we are here! We are at the hospital! Not too much longer babe, hold on!”  

We parked the car and before I got out I had to work through a contraction in the parking lot. Once that was over, we walked quickly to the hospital lobby where my doula helped me through another contraction while my husband got us an elevator. All that was going through my head was that we were almost to our room and that I needed to just be in the moment and get through one contraction at a time. We got on the elevator and finally up to the maternity ward.  

After what felt like an eternity, we finally checked in and quickly waddled into our room. I was so relieved to get there.  

Not long after we arrived in our room, my midwife arrived and said I could push when I felt the urge. So I started pushing on the toilet. She told me if I felt most comfortable in that position that I should try the birthing stool. So at 8:45 am, they set up the stool in the middle of the room and I really started to push. Before we knew it, the midwife said he was crowning and she could see his dark brown hair. I couldn’t believe it!  He was almost here.

With everything inside of me, I worked through each contraction and pushed when my body told me to. At 9:18 am, our son came out to greet us with a big cry! I could not believe it. He was here, beautiful and healthy! I did it! It was finally over. I gave birth with no drugs and now he was here in my arms and I could finally see what he looked like.

Now my sweet baby boy is 3 weeks old and we couldn’t have asked for a better birthing experience. I never knew I could love something as much as I love my son. I am happy that we have survived the first month together as a new family and look forward to the many new things to come!

It’s been awhile since my last post so I thought I would update it real quick while I had some down time to write.

Our little man came to us on April 18th and we are so in love! It’s definitely been an adjustment but nothing out of the norm of being first time parents.

Stay tune for more! Now not only am I am musician’s wife but I am a mom!

What a new adventure this will be for us!

This past week he has been on tour for SXSW.  Today they were able to come back home for the night since they had a show close to home but tomorrow they will be back on the road for another week to finish up their short tour.  

Since he has been on tour, I have found myself missing him more.  I am not sure if it is because I am pregnant or what but our home doesn’t quite feel like home unless he is here.  

The tour life can be very hard on a wife or significant other. In our experience it can actually cause a lot of frustrations and arguments for both parties if you don’t know how to deal with being apart from each other.  We definitely had to learn as we go to figure out what works best for our marriage.  Well… if I am being honest, I had to learn how to deal with him being away from home for long periods of time so I wouldn’t drive him crazy while he was on tour.

First, I had to do a little soul searching to figure out why I was having such a hard time dealing with him being gone.  Part of it was normal, when you love someone so much you want to be with him all the time but another part was that there were some emotional needs I was missing.  

I discovered that just like how he had something he could call his own, I needed a hobby or something to call my own.  Something that would fulfill me and make me happy, something that was mine, and mine alone like he had.  I remember I used to feel like my life revolved around his dream, around him playing music but what I didn’t realize was that these feelings stemmed from my own unhappiness.  So what I did was I started to try new things and I found that I really loved blogging and writing.

Another issue was that I didn’t realize how much I needed quality time with my husband in order to feel loved by him.  Being a musician can be extremely busy.  There are times where I don’t see much of him for a week or more when he is home.  Being a musician is really like another full-time job.  So I had to learn to communicate with him about what I needed from him so he could fulfill my emotional needs.  First I had to learn how to communicate well on what “quality time” looked like for me so he could satisfy that need for me.  We had many arguments and discussions before we were able to both understand each other.  I had to really be specific that quality time is not sitting in front of the TV watching it together or being at home together doing our own thing.  No, quality time is when there are no cell phones, computers or anything else that could distract us from fully being engaged in each other.  For me, quality time is both of us doing a fun activity together where we are engaged in conversation or doing something with each other.  

What we do now is anytime we know he will be busy or on tour for awhile, we do date nights before he leaves or gets super busy and do another date night once he comes back in town or after his schedule slows down.  For me, I need this time before and after to connect with him.  When I connect with him, I get my emotional need met and then I am more okay with him needing to be gone or busy.  

What a difference this made for us, especially when he is out on tour for a long time. 

I think the biggest thing we both learned is that communication is key!!!!!    When we communicate with each other and try to be purposeful on meeting each other’s needs first, then that’s when our marriage is the healthiest and we are both very happy!

It’s hard to believe that soon I will be holding my son.  It’s gone by so fast.  Just to think here in a month or so my life will be completely different.  I will be completely different.  I will no longer be just a wife, teacher, friend, daughter or sister; I will be a mom! 

I have enjoyed my pregnancy and have been thankful to have a healthy and easy one.  A part of me is ready to have my own body back and wear non-maternity clothes but another part of me feels like once this is all done, I will miss my pregnant belly and feeling him kick and move inside me.  Pregnancy is such an incredible thing!

At this moment my thoughts are on what to expect when it comes to the day he is ready to come out to the world and meet us.  What will contractions feel like?  Will he be early or late?  How long will I be in labor?  What will he look like? So many questions are floating in and out of my mind.

Although I can feel nervous and even scared at times of the unknown, I know that I must remain positive and trust that my body will do what it is meant to do.  

I am so glad to be able to experience this with the love of my life and my best friend, who I know will be right by my side to keep me going strong when it gets tough.  

In the end, the vision of seeing my son for the first time and looking at my husband as he is holding him is what will motivate me to stay strong.  April cannot come soon enough :)