In hindsight I can see that my labor with Lucy was very similar to my labor with Grayson, except I spent a majority of my labor with Lucy in the hospital. A quick recap, the labor I experienced with Grayson was very long but also very quick. I was dilated at about 5-6 cm for days. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sensation of my water breaking, and Grayson was born shortly after we arrived at the hospital. Since everything was such a rapid whirlwind after my water broke, it was assumed that this labor would progress even faster once my water broke.
When I was pregnant with Grayson I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. I got my wish. I practically did all my laboring at home and in my sleep. My first birth experience was great. I cherished every unique minute of it. This time, however, I was not so adamant about laboring at home as long as possible. We live less than a quarter of a mile from the hospital, but the midwives still joked that I could deliver at home, in the car, in the parking lot - basically anywhere but the delivery room. With every joke I would give a small chuckle and mutter something like, "Yeah, my husband is reading Emergency Childbirth to prepare just in case." This would make the midwife laugh. But in my gut I would have a knot. John really did read Emergency Childbirth in preparation of a rapid birth, and I personally know women who delivered in their home, in the car (the gal just threw her legs on the dash board and gave a good push), in the hospital parking lot. As much as the extreme stories make good fodder for conversation, I did not want a birth experience that would require me to think about anything beyond allowing my body to do what it needed to do.
Thankfully - spoiler alert - John and I did not have an emergency childbirth situation in which we had to MacGyver our way through the birth of our child.
