On January 23, 2022, I’d been having pretty regular contractions for 10 days and I was very over it. After hitting my 400th class the previous Monday, and having completed a killer strength workout on Saturday morning, I had joked the night before that I was hoping all the jumping I did would kickstart labour.

Joke was on me. It did.

My contractions had been eight-nine minutes apart when we went to bed but I fell asleep around 11pm. When I woke at 1:47am, I knew I probably wouldn’t get back to sleep but bed is supreme so I laid there, trying to get comfortable for a couple of hours. Around 4:30, I got up and did what I’d done several times previously when my contractions made sleep impossible: I cleaned the kitchen, had a bath, made a coffee, and did some work.

It was just before 7am when I felt my water break. I leapt off the couch, horrified, and waddled up the stairs as quickly as my pregnant ass could take me.

“Marc – my water broke and it’s running down my leg!”

He suggested a towel and then we both laughed at the vast difference between my false alarm “is this my water breaking?” from the week prior because holy shit, there was no comparison.

Two and a half hours later, he’d showered and we’d called both sets of parents. F was awake. The dog was walked. I was eating EGGO waffles. I’d taken 20 minutes to “get ready” because #vanity and then we stopped at McDonald’s so Marc could get breakfast and I could get a second coffee. Priorities, guys.

We were assessed and pretty quickly whisked away to a delivery room to await the arrival of our new babe.

At 5:59pm, our premature baby boy – Sebastian – arrived, small but utterly perfect even though he was 3.5 weeks early. I was lucky to have a quick and uneventful labour, pushing for only eight minutes and walking away unscathed, quite literally. Aside from happening before we had expected it, everything went perfectly to plan.

Nine days after his arrival, we’re all settling into our new lives as a family of four + doggo. Macaroni is missing her previous status but has accepted her new baby. Big brother F is thriving, Dad’s mastered diapers and Mom’s even clocking a bit of sleep.

All in all, a victory. 💕