On the 18th of May 2022 (1 day off of being 42 weeks pregnant) I woke up at 2:30am to pain as labour began. I went to the toilet and had my “bloody show”. Roczen was asleep next to me but woke shortly after (he never usually wakes up but I believe he knew I was in pain) so we put a movie on and laid in bed together, he cuddled me, played with my hair and told me “you’ll be okay mummy”.
Luke left early for work and shortly after mum called me and said she was on her way home from work, she brought home hash browns and a coffee from McDonalds for me. Mum got home and by this time it was 5:30am and Roczen had fallen back asleep so I finished my coffee and decided to have a warm shower as the contractions were getting more intense (the warm water on my back helped me through the contractions at the beginning). I got out of the shower and texted my midwife Mal, letting her know what was going on, she told me to keep her updated and we can go from there.
Roczen woke back up at 7:00am and I made us breakfast then played with him. As we played, I soaked 
in every second of it, knowing that it would be the last time of it being just us two after nearly four years. At 9:30am I decided to clean the house (if you know me you know I have OCD and not even being in labour will stop me from cleaning) it kept me distracted and it also felt better to be moving my body through each contraction. At 10:30am my mother in law Simone arrived, she came to look after Roczen while I laboured. My contractions were becoming more and more intense so I ate some vegetable soup and drank some water before I couldn’t eat or drink anymore (I don’t feel like eating or drinking when in labour) so at least I had some fuel in my body
11:30am my Aunty Jenny and cousin Caitlin arrived, they came to drop off some food and eucalyptus leaves (I’ve been obsessed with the smell of eucalyptus throughout my pregnancy and really wanted fresh eucalyptus to smell while I was in labour) once they arrived I got Caitlin to help me put the TENS machine on because at that point my contractions were becoming more and more close together.
By 12:30pm Luke finally arrived home after working in Phillip Island, he showered and got dressed, we said good bye to everyone and headed up to the cottage (my parents air bnb on their property where I was going to give birth). 1:30pm I called Mal, I told her my contractions were close together and painful (obviously) she told me it’s time to get into the shower, the shower would either slow down the contractions and give me time to rest or it will speed everything up. After 20 minutes in the shower I got out (I couldn’t stand being in there, I hated being wet) and it made everything speed up. I got dressed again and my contractions were so close together I didn’t even get a break in between. 2:30pm I was in my own world, labouring through each contraction just myself, my mind and my body… I had heat packs, ice packs, massage oil, hair combs etc but I didn’t want anything, I didn’t even put my labour playlist on and shortly after I ripped the TENS machine off, I just wanted/needed to be in my own world.
It got to 3:40pm (over 10 hours in labour now) and Luke reminded me that I haven’t updated Mal for a couple of hours and it’s honestly because up until that point, I felt like I didn’t need to call her, I felt like I didn’t need her there. I ended up calling her and I couldn’t speak throughout my contractions, Luke spoke to her and then she made her way over. Mal arrived at 4:07pm and started to set up, she asked if I wanted to use the birth pool and although I didn’t feel like being in water I said to start filling it up just in case. Luke began to fill it up, Mal was holding me through my contractions, I was in my own world as I completely surrendered to each contraction
At 4:35pm I told Mal I needed to push, there was no time to wait for the pool to fill up so Luke turned the tap off and Mal set up towels on the ground next to the bed and I got on all fours and instantly my body began to push. 5 minutes later, her head was out, 8 minutes and a few pushes later, at 4:50pm she was born. Mal reached down and guided her towards me, I pulled her up to my chest, we were both covered in blood, sweat, tears and vernix. I held her in complete shock, I turned and looked and there was Roczen coming in (he wanted to be there for the birth but he fell asleep) he had tears in his eyes and came straight up and cuddled us both. He then asked if he could still swim with her in the birth pool. 
5:00pm and by this time I was in the bathroom holding her in my arms as she had her first feed from the breast, I was on the toilet pushing my placenta out, once it was out we moved back to the bed and continued to feed. My parents, my mother in law, Roczen and Luke were all in the room, we were all in absolute awe. Mal then did a check over of Sakara and I, everything was good (no tearing etc) she then weighed/measured her (9 pounds, 55cm) and sat down to do all of her paper work with a cup of tea. It was raining on the tin roof and the fire place was crackling, I had dinner made for me and it was the most relaxing setting to be in after just giving birth.
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