Part one of Isela Marí’s arrival: Pre Labor

Isela Marí was born on August 7th at 8:38 pm. She was 8pounds 4 oz (just like her brother) and 19 inches long.





As I started writing this birth story, it slowly got longer and longer as I got all my thoughts and emotions down. I’m not one to sit and read multiple pages on a blog (or anywhere) so if you don’t mind, I’m going to break this down into multiple parts…I hope you enjoy!

Part one of Isela Marí’s arrival: Pre Labor

I was in pre-labor for weeks, I know this is what my body does, but it doesn’t make it any easier to manage, especially with a very active little one to chase after on a daily basis and the heat. Oh the heat the past couple of weeks!

When I say pre-labor, I mean mild to annoying contractions and cramps about 10-15 apart for weeks. That with the oh-so-fun and painful “natural cleansing” out of my “system” day after day made for some interesting emotional moments.

At my 38 week appointment, my midwife told me she thought I was going to go into labor within five days. While I really really tried not to let that arbitrary timeline enter my frame of thinking, it was always in the back of my mind. I pretty much made sure everything was ready to go and by that five day mark when Baby Girl still had not made her entrance I was completely let down. I knew better than to listen to those silly “she’ll come early” predictions, but I still let it get to me.

Then came the full moon. If you asked me weeks ago if I wanted to give birth on or around the full moon, I would have said HELL NO! I know it has some kind of pull on pregnant women and I knew that that would mean competition for a room at the birth center. I wanted a room and a good one, one complete with a birthing pool and a volunteer doula. I did NOT want to compete with a bunch of other full moon birthing moms for stuff I was counting on my entire pregnancy.

But the full moon was coming and I was tired and done. They say it has it’s strongest pull two days before and after the actual full moon, so by the night it was at it’s fullest and nothing was happening, I was straight up pissed. We even went for a walk to the local market for ice just after dark just so I could walk under its “powers”. Silly, I know.

The next day was my actual due date and I was in much better spirits, probably because it had started to cool down significantly. I went for breakfast with my mom & Joaquin and we walked around Ikea. It was exciting to actually say “today!” when someone asked when I was due. That evening Dan, Joaquin and I went for a nice long and cool walk at the zoo. By the time we got home my contractions had finally kicked it up a notch but were still well over 10 minutes apart. I had a feeling that things were headed into the direction of actual early labor so I knew I had to get as much sleep as possible.

I slept OK considering. I did wake up every hour or two, each time more confident that things were actually progressing. I hugged and cuddled Joaquin as much as he would let me; I knew things were going to be very different after that night and I wanted my cuddling fill of him! By 5:30 or 6 AM, I couldn’t sleep anymore. I got up to pee a couple of times, but mostly I just snuggled with Joaquin and Dan anticipating what the day was possibly going to bring.

Click here for Part two of Isela Marí's arrival: It's Really Happening!