40 weeks pregnant, only a few hours to spare until my anticipated due date, and family and friends were constantly checking in. I was ready and so was everyone else. It was a chilly night in March and my sister and her 7 month old daughter came to stay with my family for the week. We would need the help and of course my sister wanted to be there for the birth of the newest baby girl. I had been active all day; running errands, cleaning the house and shopping with my sister. I hadn't experienced any pain or contractions throughout the day, it was getting late and I thought it was pretty safe to say that she wasn't coming.

We made it home, relaxed for a bit to wait it out. Hoping for at least one contraction, some pain, a sign, some blood..and nothing..nothing happened. So we put the children to bed and assured some family and friends that we would let everyone know when we had some action. I decided to head to bed as well letting my sister know that I would wake her if anything started to happen. Around 10pm I had a sudden urge to poop! In preparation for labor and delivery your body cleanses itself and my body was beginning that process. Once out of the bathroom BAM! I started having contractions!

These contractions made me want to smack somebody and get into the fetal position at the same time. I walked to the foot of my bed, put my hand on the footboard and had another contraction. My husband looked at me and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. NO!! I said..not yet. I went a week past my due date with my first, was in labor over 14 hours and had to walk, almost run around the hospital for hours before having my first daughter, I did NOT want to go to the hospital before it was time. After discussion we decided to wait at least an hour to see how things progress and then go. My sister started to get herself and our things ready to go just in case we headed to the hospital that night.

Wanting to keep a record of my contractions I grabbed a pen and notepad (this was before the fancy Apps in phones) and began writing down the times of each contraction. From the start, I was having extremely painful contractions in my back and my stomach and they were only minutes apart. Five minutes here..two minutes there..I continued to jot down times for an hour. Finally, I decided that it was time to go. My sister gathered the children as I walked down the stairs from my top floor to the main level. I went to my sofa to pick up a pair of socks, my husband was going in and out of the house and had come back in just as I was bending down to put on my sock. I felt this POP and a gush of fluid streamed down my legs. Yes..my water broke! My husband looked at me and asked how much time we had. I had no idea, I could hardly move and felt like the babys head was between my legs.

PAUSE.

If I would've known then what I know now, I would've just stayed home. What I felt was definitely her head, she was crowning.

My husband picked me up and carried me swiftly down two sets of stairs and placed me into our brand new SUV. My sister came out of the house with the girls and ran back in to get her daughters blanket. Once she came back out and jumped into the SUV, we sped off. I was in the passenger seat of the SUV and I could feel every bump in the road. I put my hand inside my sweatpants and I could feel my daughter's head continuing to move down. My husband, just as concerned as I was continued to ask if I was okay. My contractions were coming harder and harder and did my best to fight the urge to push. The girls were in the back seat of the SUV watching a movie, my sister was talking to my parents trying to update them and my husband was driving like a madman!

I could only imagine how he was feeling; me in the front seat, contraction after contraction, doing my breathing techniques and constantly reminding him that the baby was coming out. As he took the highway in order to get to the hospital faster we saw a State Police Trooper.

He stopped.

When he left the car to to talk to the Trooper and said he heard me say, "She's coming!" He ran to the SUV flipped me over; pulled my sweatpants, underwear, and socks off in one swoop and tossed them onto the highway. My sister was talking to my Doctor (not sure if this call began before or after my pants being tossed) and my daughter, niece and the Trooper (who had come to the drivers side of the SUV were all looking at me with a blank stare). I pushed and my husband delivered his daughter. She was here. Born on her due date, right after the clock struck midnight. My husband grabbed her, cleaned her mouth, and that blanket that my sister went back to get, was used to wrap her. She was then placed on my chest as instructed by my obstetrician.

In the midst of all of this, the trooper was still there, looking through the window and asked if we needed “paper towel.” I’m not sure what he thought a paper towel was going to do. But I digress. When the paramedics arrived I was still half dressed as my clothing was still on the side of the highway. They asked if I could move and I did, I began to walk to the ambulance, holding my baby with the umbilical cord still attached. Thinking back on it now, I’m unsure why a stretcher or sheet weren’t offered to me right at the start. After all I did just deliver a baby. Every time I moved toward the ambulance, I felt a tug. I also requested that they cover me and one of the medics said “You just had a baby and you're worried about being covered?” Why wouldn’t I be worried about that? Who would want to WALK down the side of the HIGHWAY into an ambulance half naked carrying a newborn still attached?! I was still contracting as I made it into the ambulance and on our way to the hospital.

The arrival to the hospital was quick, we had almost made it there on our own - I wonder if we would have if my husband hadn’t stopped… As we walked in, the staff congratulated my husband. We were taken to a delivery room where we waited for about an hour while I was able to have skin-to-skin with my new baby before my umbilical cord was cut and delivery of the placenta.