What I didn’t expect when I was expecting.

This is the story of my firstborn son’s birth that led me searching for a different option when I was pregnant with my second child. One journey led to the other.

I awoke early on Christmas morning in December 2011 with mild contractions and some spotting. Full of anticipation, I wondered would today be the day we’d get to finally meet our baby boy? I was five days overdue and ready to pop. My contractions faded, however, as I went about my preparations for Christmas dinner later that day. We had relatives in town visiting for the holiday, eagerly and somewhat impatiently awaiting our baby boy’s arrival. His nursery was ready, tiny outfits folded in the dresser, diapers ready to go on the changing table. Now we were in waiting mode.

Over a game of Scrabble that afternoon with my mom Marjorie and mother-in-law Molly, my contractions started to kick in again. I was so focused on the game that I didn’t realize they were becoming more regular and getting closer together. I was so distracted — I had this game to finish! And dinner to cook! Finally Molly gently suggested we consider heading to the hospital. Once I realized things were getting real, I grew even more excited and grabbed my bag for the hospital that I’d packed a couple weeks earlier.

It was a crisp, sunny, winter afternoon. My husband Adam and I drove to the hospital in Seattle around 3pm and my contractions were about four or five minutes apart. I remember laughing about how there were hardly any cars on the road and no traffic whatsoever. We had plenty of time to spare. Jittery and happy, I walked laps outside the building and in the corridors with Adam while waiting to be admitted at the point I was 4 centimeters dilated and about 80% effaced. While I didn’t have a printed, written birth plan, I’d given it plenty of thought and had read half a dozen or more books in preparation for the birth of our first child including What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I planned on a vaginal birth, and decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach before getting an epidural, wanting to have that option just in case. I was optimistic!

I had other items on my birth plan too — skin-to-skin cuddling right away after birth, initiating breastfeeding as soon as possible, who I wanted to have in the delivery room with me. In hindsight I probably left out a few things of varying importance. My take then was that music and soft lighting was a little “hippie dippie” and I gave minimal thought to procedures or…