birth of baby 2

Living just outside of Boston, Friday night Feb. 8, there was a huge snow storm. We went outside, played, built a snowman, just enjoyed the snow. We woke up Saturday to about 2 feet or so of snow. I woke up about 8:30ish and had some period like cramps. since we were planning a home birth, I let the midwives know right away in case they needed to come. Right after I text them, I realized I was having some contractions. At first, I didn't think much of them but decided to time them anyway. They were about 3 mins apart and 45ish sec long. They had come out of nowhere. I went to the bathroom and had some show. I told my husband, Jim, to call the midwives because we were gonna have a baby that day! He called and they told him they were snowed in at another birth. They suggested we call EMS for a ride to the hospital if we felt things were progressing quickly and they would try to get to us as soon as they could. Jim and I jumped to action. He called his aunt that was set to watch our daughter, Aria, and she said she would figure out a way to come her pick up. I proceeded to finish packing her bag, dress her and feed her. Jim ran to the neighbors house to see if they could call their plow guy to plow our 100 + yard driveway. At 10:30 am Jim's aunt arrives and he runs Aria down the still snow covered drive and they leave. I try to relax a bit and talk to the midwives about a plan. They again suggest calling EMS because now they are fairly certain they won't be getting out soon. I tell them I'll think about it and I'm going to try and take it easy for a bit. Jim is still outside and calls to check on me. He says he's going to try and flag down a plow that's driving down the road and to give him 20-30 mins to do that. I said no...I need you here. He wasn't convinced. I said ok...how about 15-20 mins. He agreed. I jumped in the shower. The contractions were intense! The warmth of the water on my back helped relieve the intensity of the peaks. After a short bit, I had to get out because it was a struggle to stand there during the contractions. After the shower, I didn't even get dressed, I just laid with my towel on the bed. It was 11, it had been 15 mins and I was about to call Jim to tell him to get inside when he arrived and let me know he had flagged down a plow who cleaned our drive for free when he told them his wife was in labor. We began to discuss what we should do when a contraction hit. He realized this was getting serious. We guessed maybe the hospital was an option but how to get there was the question. I didn't really want to ride in an EMS truck, that would have just given me anxiety. Then the baby moved down the birth canal. I said: "uh-oh."
Jim said: "what?"
I said: "baby wants to come out."
He asked: "baby wants to come out...like you're ready to push?"
I simply nodded. He sat for a second holding the phone decided who to call ambulance or midwife. He decided midwife. Which in retrospect, the better choice since baby was definitely coming right then! With the midwife on speaker phone and Jim by my side, I pushed and pushed (like 10 minutes) and out came baby Micah with Jim there to catch him at about 11:30 am and put him on my chest immediately

what's in a due date?

after finding out your pregnant, the next super exciting news is when will baby arrive??  so you look at your calendar or maybe you have to think back a month (or 2 or 3) to find out when you last had your period.  then you count 40 weeks...that's when baby will arrive.  right?  ummmm, not so much.  first off...this is a bit of semantics but technically what you've just arrived at is your estimated due date or your guessed due date.  a due date is often perceived as a deadline, when something is over.  your library books have a due date...that's set in stone.  if you have a paper or a project you have a due date or deadline for when it must be completed. 
i like the phrase 'bun in the oven' because i think it helps wrap your mind around this idea.  a due date is concrete.  however, when you are baking they give you an amount of time to bake something but sometimes you need to pull it out a few minutes early or let it cook a few minutes longer.  even the same recipe, in the same over can vary from one day to the next.   that's how we need to look at due dates.  not as a deadline to meet but as an idea of when baby will arrive.   the window is really 38-42 weeks.   there have been lots of studies that prove the average gestational time is 41 weeks 1 day. 
in my first pregnancy, my original due date which was set based on my last period was january 28.  when i went in to the dr, she did an ultrasound and said baby doesn't look that old.  so a new date was given of feb 12.  i was actually charting at the time so i went and looked and sure enough...based on everything i had charted indeed feb 12 was a more accurate date.  baby came feb 10.  when she was ready to be born.  now in my second pregnancy, i am writing this on what has been given as my due date.  i wasn't charting but i did know my last period, so we at least have a general idea of what to work with since i declined ultrasounds this time around.  (perhaps a post for another day)  baby is not here and i'm fairly confident it will not arrive in the next 4 hours to make it today.  baby will come when baby is done growing in mama's belly. 
it's amazing how much emphasis we put on this date.  as if it's a concrete, unchangeable, exact date.  it's not.  nobody knows when labor will begin and when baby will be born.  yet we are expected to act/react on this date.  today i met a woman who asked when my due date was (by the way, a question i hate based on everything i've said so far) and i said i was 40 weeks today.  her immediate next question was "when are you going to be induced."  i said i'm not, we'll wait until baby knows it's time.