Preface: my son came pretty quick for a first baby (6.5 hours of contractions, 1/2 hour pushing) and I knew they say second babies usually come quicker but didn't want to get my hopes up. I also wanted to labor at home as long as possible this time around. Here is how I almost had an Uber baby!

I started my maternity leave on Monday, February 6, although I wasn’t due until the 7th. My son was born a few days before his due date so I was convinced the same would be the case with this baby. I figured if I was wrong, at least I would appreciate having a day or two to myself and trying natural methods to get things started.

On Monday, it happened to be a beautiful and unseasonably warm day, so I met friends for spicy Asian food for lunch, took some very long walks, and went for acupuncture. Nothing happened.

On Tuesday, my due date, I went for some more walks and went for prenatal yoga, thinking maybe getting into some yoga positions would help baby engage. Nothing happened.

On Wednesday, it was another unseasonably warm day. I kept my son home from daycare since I knew we might not have much 1-on-1 time left. We went to the zoo and walked all around for hours. Nothing happened. Even though I was only a day past my due date, I was starting to feel sure I would be pregnant forever and was getting frustrated as I saw the days of my limited maternity leave slipping away and no signs of labor.

On Thursday, I woke up to a crazy snow storm and the temperature had dropped like 40 degrees in one day. I was hopeful because I had heard that sometimes the drops in barometric pressure from a snow storm can start labor. I had my 40 week checkup, and thought it might be canceled but they called me and just asked me to come in a little early. My midwife asked if I wanted a membrane sweep; I’d had one the week prior but it didn’t do anything other than make me a little crampy. I figured it couldn’t hurt to do it again. I think she said I was like 3 cm dilated? Up from 2 the week before, if I recall. So, there was some progress but I knew those numbers didn’t really mean much.

I decided to walk home in the snow (I live in the city) rather than take a taxi, in hopes it would accelerate things. It was beautiful and quiet out. I did feel some light cramping, similar to the week before, but nothing that I thought meant anything. My son’s daycare was closed, so I got home and hung out with him. I had woken up with a nasty cold that day and thought “today would not be a good day to go into labor…I feel so crappy!” Hint hint, what do you think happened. Anyway, when my son went down for his nap I took a nap too because I felt so tired. I had some additional light cramping while I napped but slept great for like a solid two hours.

I woke up when my son did and took him back downstairs. The cramping was still going on and felt a little bit stronger, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up that it was anything special. I still felt tired and not great with the cramps so I asked my husband, who was working from home, to take a break to hang out with our son so I could go get a shower and rest a little more. I figured if the cramps went away after a shower, I’d assume it was nothing. Well, the cramps were still there after the shower, so I started to think maybe this was something legit.

We ordered pho for dinner (I figured the broth would help my cold and the spice couldn’t hurt things). As we sat down to eat, I started to notice a more define beginning and end to the ‘cramps’ and decided to time them. They were anywhere from about 5-8 minutes apart. This was around 5-6 p.m. I decided it was probably a good idea to put my son to bed early just in case this was the real deal.
My husband and I went up to give him his bath and the cramps (which at this point I kind of recognized were contractions, which I had been unwilling to admit earlier!) amped up. When I went to read him his bedtime story, I had to take breaks from reading with each contraction, because they were pretty strong by that point. We said goodnight to him shortly before 7pm probably.

We went downstairs and I bounced on my ball a bit and did some yoga on my mat to alleviate some of the discomfort. Contractions were 4-6 minutes apart but not particularly painful. I told my husband I wanted to go upstairs and take a bath to try to relax, and to come along and time my contractions. So I got in the tub probably around 7:30/8. My husband was being a champ, putting cold washcloths on my head, pouring water on my belly. I labored in the tub for probably about an hour and a half like that. Things definitely intensified and contractions were 2-4 minutes apart and lasting 30-45 seconds, but I felt like I was managing them pretty good and didn’t think I was that far along. I wanted to labor at home as long as possible and didn’t want to get to the hospital and not be very far, plus I wasn’t in terrible pain, so even though they were getting closer I didn’t feel it was time to go to the hospital.

Then my water broke while I was in the tub – maybe around 9:45? As soon as I felt it, I knew things were probably going to amp up very quickly so I got out of the tub and got dressed and we called my mom to come over so we could leave for the hospital. My mom lives a mile away and should have been able to cab it to our place in less than ten minutes, but I don’t think she realized the urgency and it took her almost half an hour by the time she got her stuff together and got to our house. By the time she got there I was in transition, contractions were on top of each other, like 2 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. My husband called the Uber and we got in and left for the hospital around 10:30.

The hospital is like 10 blocks away and really only like a 5 minute drive. About two blocks away, I felt the urge to push. I said “I have to push!” and the Uber driver said “we’re almost there, hang on!!” I did my best to resist the urge and it was so hard.

We got out front of the hospital and I hobbled inside and told the security guard “I have to push!” It was a quiet night and he seemed bored but that shook him up He swiped his badge so we could go up the elevator and he told us he’d call L&D to let them know we were coming.

As soon as we got up to L&D, I went up to the desk there and again said “I have to push!” They didn’t seem to believe me and were looking at their computer and taking their time…but by this point I could feel the baby right there, so I pulled my pants down and that’s when they took me seriously. They led me into a triage room and onto the bed and I started pushing. My daughter was out about two pushes later. 10:49 pm, probably less than 10 minutes after we pulled up to the hospital.

It was a crazy, exhilarating experience! The funny thing is I wanted a home birth originally but ended up opting for the hospital primarily due to the way my insurance covers birth, but ended up almost getting a home birth anyway. Well…almost got an Uber birth, (which I’m glad didn’t actually happen!)