Three years ago

Thak put my bag into the car, and called Jill, the midwife on call, to let her know that the contractions were still coming every few minutes, and we were on our way. We dropped Erin off with the Brady family, and then spent the next hour hitting every pothole on the two lane road through the south Georgia swamps that stood between us and Savannah. By the time we arrived at the birth center, the contractions had stopped, and we were sent home.

From that point forward, every night, I had strong contractions from the minute the sun went down, until it rose again, all the way until Orren was finally born on Christmas morning. Three years ago today, he gave us the first indication that he was coming, and everything began. It was what made me doubt, on some level, that the contractions on Christmas Eve were real labor, and what made us almost not make it to the birth center in time. However, staying at home, and doing my whole labor, until the very end, completely unassisted, was a huge part of what gave me the confidence to homebirth the next time, and 100% of the reason I came to realize that homebirth is the ideal way to bring a baby into the world.

I can't believe my little curly headed dude is about to be 3 years old. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing our little boy whose name means pine tree, into the world, under the tall Georgia pines.