As told by his mama, Emilee:

It was just a normal Monday afternoon, driving Mila to cheer, 35 minutes away. I took the scenic route too since we left a little early. Shamiya calls me and asked if I was still pregnant (she was filming my birth) and to just keep her posted.

10 minutes later, I get to Mila's cheer and parked. I get out of my van and feel what feels like extreme discharge leak (sorry for the TMI ). I just figured it was normal discharge, until it just wouldn't stop and my pants were soaked in the matter of a minute. Thankfully my sister had decided to come watch Mila, and had met me there. I looked at her and said, "I think my water just broke..." I've never experienced natural water breakage, so I continued to get Mila out of her carseat, and asked my sister to check my pants (ladies you know the drill ) to see if you could tell. She said, "No, just your inner thighs. I'll walk behind you."

We get into the building and I immediately went to the bathroom while Sadie checked Mila in. I decided to try going pee to make sure it wasn't that, well I peed and yet the leaking continued. So I call my mom, slightly freaking out in the Spirit Factory bathroom. She said it sounded like it could be my water and to call the midwife. I called my midwife and she said to put a pad on (which I didn't have), and to go home and in her midwife kit was a swab for amniotic fluid. Then I called Mike and explained everything.

I left Mila with my sister at cheer and "slowly" raced home. I wasn't getting any contractions, but again I've never gone into labor naturally so I wasn't sure what to expect. I called my mom back and explained everything to her. When I got home I immediately ran to my room to take my pants off and put on a diaper, yes a DIAPER

Then, I started cleaning. Literally I started straightening things up, the things Mike hadn't already done (which he had half set up our birthing pool by the time I got home LOL). I started vacuuming, sweeping, wiping down counters, arranging the baskets, taking whatever didn't belong in my room out & putting it in the nursery, etc. Once that was all done, I jumped in the shower. After my shower I dusted my blinds and I honestly can't remember what else.

My mom came to stay the night, because we honestly all thought it was going to happen so fast. However, my contractions were still only 20 minutes apart and not strong or consistent at all. So we watched a movie and went to bed. The next morning my contractions were still the same. Mike's mom came for a little then took Mila home with her until things got going. One of Mike's sisters took Jaydon for a little bit too. I started taking castor oil, only 2 tablespoons to see if that would help. I took it twice (a few hours in between) and stilllll nothing. Nearing the 24 hour mark since my water broke, Mike and I decided to go for a walk. During the walk I had a few back to back contractions, but nothing consistent still.

At 5pm, I started getting nervous. It hit the 24 hour mark since my water broke. Mike and I started contemplating transferring to the hospital, and Mike even packed his bag.

I called my mom about it and started crying. I felt like I had failed. I had been so worried about this birth plan and that I wouldn't be able to do it or that something would go wrong. I had tried to mentally prepare myself the entire time, thought I wasn't ready, get was so calm about it all once my water broke. She reassured me I had not failed, that I tried and sometimes things don't work out, but I had to worry about me and the baby. I spoke to my midwife, who also said if I wanted to transfer it was totally fine. Then I talked to Mike. I cried to him, explaining my point of view and how I felt. I knew he was scared and nervous something could be wrong, even if the FHR was fine and the baby was moving. I told him I wanted to wait until the morning, that I know he wanted to transfer, but I wanted to stick it out and wait. That I was at low risk for infection, and everything was okay.

During that discussion I got a strong contraction, 3 minutes later I got another one and then another one 3 minutes after that. I texted the midwife and she said to keep timing them and she'll head over. I jumped in the shower, because my contractions seemed to stick when in there. They went back and forth from 2.5-4.5 minutes apart. I told my midwife I wanted to wait until 8:20ish to make sure they were consistent for that hour. Well, they stuck, got stronger, and I was declared in active labor. That's when the nerves hit. I was scared yet excited. I was going to meet my baby, the way I wanted to, but so nervous about getting through it.

I got out of the shower and just made sure to keep moving. Hip circles on my yoga ball worked wonders as well. We called everyone for the birth and told them it was time. The kids came home and we got prepared. My midwife arrived around 10pm, had me take of a shot of an herbal tincture and at 10:30 she checked my dilation. I was only 4cm, which was honestly discouraging because I had been 2cm, 3 weeks earlier. However, I just kept moving through my contractions. They got stronger and were mainly in the back of my hips, my butt, and my abdomen. The only positions that helped relieve them were cat/cow and child's pose. Squatting down helped a lot too.

Around 11:20pm I decided to jump in the shower to see if it would help some of my pain. They just got stronger and closer together. When I got out the pain was extremely unbearable. I was basically crying during them. I grabbed my combs, which I've heard could help focus the pain on your hands, but it didn't work the contractions were just too close together and strong.

I asked my mom to grab our midwife to get checked again. Our midwife came upstairs and into our room. She wanted to check the baby's heart rate again, but my pain was so unbearable I sunk to the ground and hung onto her to get through it. She checked me once it had passed and I was at a 9. I threw on my bathing suit skirt and went to the bathroom. I made Mike come with me incase I got another one, which I did. That contraction had me thinking I was about to give birth on the toilet.

After I got out of the bathroom I got into the birthing tub, where I got another contraction immediately. I couldn't sit on my bottom with how bad the pain was, so I flipped to my knees. I went through 2 more contractions, then the pain got even worse. I cried I couldn't do it, squeezed the heck out Mike. I felt the urge to push, in which once I said, "I need to push" I then yelled. Yes I yelled loudly, it was the only way I knew I was going to get the baby out. There was no "peaceful birthing" over here. I had labored peacefully long enough. 2 contractions, one minute, and our baby was in my arms. ONE WHOLE MINUTE of pushing.

The pain was gone and I was overtook by extreme emotion. I did it. I did what I had wanted to do for as long as I could remember.

2 medicated hospital births, and 1 unmedicated home water birth. I had freaking done it and my baby was earth side, surrounded by his parents, siblings, and Grammies. He gave us his first cry and immediately cuddled into my chest, where he's been everyday since. Seeing Mila jump up and down, hearing her say, "gimme gimme gimme." Seeing Jay's big smile and sparkle in his eyes, looking at his baby brother that he's longed for. Looking at the love and pride in my husband's eyes. Seeing my mom wipe tears from her eyes, saying, "you did it em!" and watching my mother in law smile with so much love for all of us there.

Kneeling there, taking in all of these moments, showed me that all of the pain, stress, and tears were worth it.

I got my dream homebirth. I know there were many worries, which is totally normal. Mike and I were worried too, but we did it. We all did it and I wouldn't change a thing.

I just want to thank our midwife for dealing with my many many questions, our days of uncertainty, as well as my stress during those 27 hours of non-active labor, my 4.5 hours of active labor, and all my texts since. I'm so glad we chose her to be our midwife and "catch" our baby. If we ever go through this again, I hope we get to work with her again.