Short story - Harper joined us last night (on her due date!) at 10:48pm weighing 7lbs 14oz and 19.5" long.
Long story - I had been having lots of BH contractions, as well as some mild productive ones in the last week and and half or so. At my 39 week appt I was 2cm dilated, 50% effaced, and her head was between a -1 and -2 station. Yesterday morning I headed to a prenatal yoga class that felt fantastic, and then headed to my 40 week dr appointment at 1:30. My dr stripped my membranes and said that there was about a half-centimeter change in my dilation from last week. I wasn't really expecting the membrane sweep to put me into labor, since my first daughter came 12 days late. I was just hoping it would bring me more productive contractions so when the day did finally get here I would be a little further along.
After my appointment I felt a little crampy, but nothing strong enough to think labor was close. I went home, cleaned up the house, walked my daughter to her music class that was about 8 blocks away, and then we came home. I was feeling kind of crummy, but just figured it was the food I ate for lunch and decided I didn't want to eat any dinner before I went to my prenatal massage appt at 6:45. My massage was AMAZING, and i felt so much better afterwards.
I had a couple of more intense contractions near the end of my massage, starting around 7:30, and then had one when I was getting into my car that I had to stop and breathe through. On the drive home I had 2 or 3 more that were varying in intensity, but none of them lasted for more than 30 seconds or so, so I still wasn't thinking much into all this. My husband had plans to go grab a couple beers with a coworker who was in from out of town, and said he'd keep his phone on him in case I needed him. I insisted he go and have fun bc I didn't think this was the real deal. Well, almost as soon as he left the contractions started getting much closer together and my body decided this would be a great time to clean itself out. I was going back and forth between leaning on the walls and sitting in the toilet during contractions that were becoming so intense I had to vocalize/moan to get through them. About 20 minutes after my husband left the house I called him and told him he better get home because I thought this was the start of something.
Even though the contractions were so close together and intense, they were only lasting 40-55 seconds so I only thought I was in early labor. Husband called my parents on his way home to come over and stay at our house with our daughter, and as soon as they got to our house (about a 25 minute drive from their place), we left for the hospital. At this point, I was starting to doubt my ability to be able to have the natural birth I planned and that I was able to have with my first daughter. Dealing with contractions in the car was fucking miserable. And then we came upon stopped traffic on the highway to due construction. I'm pretty sure I mumbled some expletives and at that point took of my seatbelt and turned around in my seat to hang on to the headrest during contractions. This whole part was awful and I remember being so relieved when my husband told me we were finally turning into the parking lot. We got a close spot and I had to stop and vocalize through 6 or 7 contractions between the car and the room they had waiting for us.
Our nurse met us as we were walkig into the room and I changed into a hospital gown in record time and made it to the bed just in time for another contraction to hit. I told her I wanted to get in the shower as soon as possible (the shower was my saving grace during my labor with my first daughter), and she told me they had to do 20 minutes of monitoring me and the baby before I could do that. I almost cried. I decided then that if she checked me and I was only like 3 or 4 cm dilated, that I would just get an epidural because this was way more intense than my precious labor, with the exception of being in transition. I was able to remember and use a lot of my relaxation techniques, which were definitely helping me, but I didn't know how long I could hang in there with it if I was going to have another long labor like my first daughter's (22hours). When she did finally check me (I think it was around 10:15pm at this point) she asked me if I felt like I had to push and if I had a lot of pressure in my bottom. She said she thought I was complete, but it was hard to tell for sure because the bulging bag of water was in the way. She was going to call the doctor to come and check me herself. This was the best thing I heard all night, and it gave me a HUGE burst of confidence! Dr checked me and agreed I was complete and offered to break my water, which I accepted bc I knew it would make things progress faster.
After the next contraction she broke it and then shit got real, real quick. I was feeling pushy and was able to relax through several contractions and let my body naturally labor the baby down. At some point I just started pushing and took the doctor's advice to hold in some of my breath as I was pushing instead of vocalizing through the push. I think I only pushed through 3 or 4 more contractions after she said that and baby was out!
So, from start to finish, I was in active labor for about 3 hours and pushed for 12 minutes - a huge difference than my 22 hours of labor with an hour and a half of pushing with my first. AND I had this one on her due date

Her big sister came this morning to meet her and it was one of the most special events I have witnessed. Instant love between those two

For those of you planning a natural birth, know you can do it, and remember that when your brain starts to tell you there's no way you could do it any longer, that's when you're almost done! Good luck to the rest of you October Mamas out there! Your babies with be here before you know it!
*ETA I don't have any stitches this time. Just a couple of abrasions the nurse compared to fingernail scratches.
Re: Duder's Birth Story - fast hypnobirthing birth!
Married to my love on 06-02-2007
Mikah Lucille born 03-02-2011
Baby Girl Zooey due October 2014
Emma Rose - 9.14.05 Beckett - 5.26.07 Sawyer - 9.22.12 Lennon Mae - 9.26.14
Me: 34 DH: 34
TTC since Jan '13
BFP#1 - EDD 3/24/14 - d&c 7w5d
BFP#2 - EDD 6/14/14 - cp 4w2d
BFP#3 - EDD 10/28/14 - It's a BOY!!! - Born 10/26/14
Piper Jo: October 14'
O14 January Signature Challenge: Snow Fails
Married 8/27/2011
BFP #1 9/28/2011 DS born 5/22/2012
BFP #2 4/24/2013 m/c 4/25/2013 at 4w
BFP #3 1/31/2014 DD born 10/14/2014
BFP #4 1/20/2016 m/c 2/12/2014 at 7w2d
BFP #5 8/19/2016 DS2 born 4/29/2017
BFP #6 3/7/2018 EDD 11/18/2018