We had a baby, and Uber was part of it

I know some people don't like reading about birth stories, but I love them. I even had a couple of natural birth experiences from people whom I blog stalk ready to read when I was in labor to help me through it all.
I used to wonder if I'd have one to tell~and if it would go as planned, wellllll...I've found this really difficult to write up, like words can't quite express it all-but here goes:

A little background for you, I was very much NOT looking forward to giving birth in NYC. Birth is hard as it is (so I had heard), and having to add sharing a room (and a TV) with a complete stranger and their new baby and maybe an occasional visit from their baby daddy, it was all just too much. And they send the husbands home at night here.
But our birth was amazing. Better than we planned for, really. We did as much preparatory work as possible to make us as prepared and comfortable as possible. We had a doula, our good friend Maya, and she came to our apartment numerous times to teach us birthing classes and all things labor/delivery. We found a midwife practice that was superb. Our goal was to go to the birthing center in the hospital which is a separate floor just for natural births, but you have to have a textbook perfect/no complications birth to ultimately give birth there. We have several friends who had the goal of going to the birth center as well but due to last minute complications most of them didn't get in. So we tried to stay realistic about that option.
I felt that all of our preparation and educating ourselves as much as we could, really helped me feel in control no matter how out of control things got in the end. I was prepared for the worst of the worst, but it ended up being the greatest of the great...?
Okay, my only complaints being the length of my labor, the exhaustion by the end, and the pain of contractions. But, I got this.
Contractions started in the morning on Friday. When Jon-David woke up I told him I'd been having contractions and he got so excited and asked if he should not go into work. I told him he should go because it definitely wasn't active labor yet and these things can take a while. They tapered off and I just felt strange the rest of the day and didn't want to move or walk any more than necessary. But then I started panicking that the baby was coming and we weren't ready-we didn't have anything to carry her and there were a few things I still wanted to get for the labor. So I pushed myself to go across Manhattan to Target/Costco land. Once I was there I started binge shopping buying everything from a bikini top to toilet bowl cleaner. And then I realized I physically was unable to carry everything I bought and I hadn't made it to Costco yet for my frozen berries! And I never did. While I was shopping Uber sent me a coupon and I took it as an omen that I'd better just go home. So I literally dragged my bags down the street to catch an Uber home. I did a ride share and the other passengers that got in were a Chinese lady and her young daughter. The little girl was pretty funny and at one point rubbed her head on my belly and patted it. And she had the same exact birthday as me. Another good omen I guess? I rested until Jon-David got home and then we went to whole foods where I just hunched over the cart and moved so slow while we added all of the snacks we thought we'd want at the hospital.
I had contractions all through that night that I was able to sleep between. They got about 7 minutes apart before they died down again. In the morning I woke up to signs that my labor was progressing but I also knew that these signs could last up to one week and I wasn't sure if my contractions were real or just Braxton-Hicks because I didn't know what either of them felt like. At this point I kind of stopped trusting that my body was progressing and thought maybe the rest of my life would be lived with never progressing contractions.
I let my doula know and she wasn't sure if I was progressing either-it was just obvious I wasn't in "active labor". So the plan was to distract myself. I went downstairs and got a mani-pedi. Later that evening we had friends in from out of town that we met up with for dinner at Luke's Lobster. As crumby as I felt and with my contractions still coming randomly I was glad they were there to distract me, even though it was awkward to be talking to and act normal while laboring.
Sunday morning is all a blur. I remember things finally started active. I think I took about 700 baths that day. And I couldn't leave Jon-David alone I just wanted him to hug me and massage my back all day. We called the mid-wife in the afternoon and she made me feel discouraged by saying that I still had a week to go and my contractions weren't close or constant enough to go in and said to call back when they got to 3 minutes apart. Our doula came for a visit later that afternoon and saw that I had made the change into active labor. I had become very internal and she had me get in the bath again to see if it would either speed up or stop the contractions. At that point I was still self-aware and had her wait out in the living room while I took a bath. Then she went home and changed and by the time she got back my contractions were 3 minutes apart, our midwife said to come in and we packed our bag and all headed to the hospital. I remember the Uber ride was one of the fastest we've ever had and I felt every bump along the highway. The driver was pretty excited as it was his first woman in labor he'd ever taxied.
Once in the hospital I had to stop like every two steps for my contractions. We were so glad we didn't have to go to the regular hospital triage and were able to go straight to the birthing center floor.  My favorite midwife was on duty, she checked me and I was already dilated to a six, and I was so relieved. I asked for a gown (I still cared about modesty at this point, but that went away after 15 minutes). The nurse drew me a bath and I got in but at this point I was shaking so bad I couldn't tell if the bath was so cold that I was shaking or if it was just my hormones. But they let me know it was actually cold and mixed in more hot water. And it was like a royal spa treatment - throughout the rest of the labor Jon-David and Maya were constantly massaging me and doing counter pressure and wiping my head with essential oils and damp rags. I kept my eyes closed pretty much the whole time and groaned and breathed through the contractions so much that my mouth and lips were dried out and I kept asking for chap-stick. Then the point came where I was so exhausted I didn't have it in me anymore. I started saying "you guys, I can't do this anymore" and Jon-David claimed I said "this was a stupid idea", but I don't remember that.
I got tired of the bath and tried new positions on the bed. They let me know it was time to push, should I feel the urge. I was absolutely exhausted at this point and I didn't feel like pushing, I didn't know if my body was too worn out to let me know when it was time to push. But then my contractions started feeling a little different and the urge to push came! The midwife coached me to localize my pushing but I tried and I would just fall to a slump because I had ZERO strength left. And then they let me know they saw the head and there was a lot of hair. The midwife asked if I wanted to feel it and I remember thinking "I'll do whatever you tell me to do". I reached down and felt what I guess was the head (I wasn't too impressed), I just wanted it over with. And I screamed like I never knew I could scream and out she slid. It was such a relief and a bit of a blur. I remember being surprised by all of her dark hair and how much I thought she looked like me. I love babies with a lot of hair but I was mentally prepared to greet my baby looking like her dad with some strong Jorgensen genes. And I remember Jon-David crying (which he NEVER does) he excused himself a few times at the end to go blow his nose and wipe his tears in privacy.
It was such a relief to hold her and meet her. Its weird to feel like you know someone AND feel like they're a complete stranger at the same time. She kept looking at us and blinking a lot like "what in the world just happened to me and what are these loud noises I keep making?". So many sensations.
I guess I bled a lot but everyone kept calm and Naomi distracted me while they got it under control and the midwife also had to put in a few stitches, but I didn't even really tear. Because of my severe loss of blood they let us stay an extra day in the room we were in. That room was such a heaven on earth. It was the most incredible place to be in all of NYC, so sacred and so intimate. Everything was so raw, my foot was stained in my blood for over a day and I remember I kept looking it and thinking that it was kind of awesome and beautiful.
A friend had told me that babies have this sweet smell to them and I had no idea! Naomi smelled intoxicating to me, I don't know how nature makes that work but I couldn't get enough of that amniotic smell.
After laboring the nurses handed me a menu and told me to order food because I definitely needed it and I misheard them say it was all free so I ordered a ton of food, for me, Jon-David, the doula, and more for me. Well, nearly $100 later we got our breakfast. Ha! And the shake was the only think I could finish.
Later in the afternoon they brought in a mini buttercream birthday cake from the hospital that impressed me so much I've been craving cake with frosting daily since then.
When they discharged us the nurses parting words were "now you get to see the world through the eyes of a mother". The first thing my Mother eyes saw when we walked out those doors was "germs! Everywhere there are germs! Hospital germs, doctor germs, Ebola germs, homeless person germs!". While Jon-David was ordering up an uber a lady asked if she could see the baby I had covered in the carseat and I was very reluctant because, GERMS!
So back to uber (it really isn't vital to this entire story...). They failed us with two drivers cancelling on us so we used Lyft instead. Our driver told us all about life and something about how we realize our dependency and weakness when we are near death and\or in prison. I don't really know.
And now while I'm writing this she's almost two months old, napping on my chest and I'm amazed at how much she's grown already and how her little personality that we've started to see fits right in with Jon-David and I.
These first few months have been hard and so exhausting. There are moments where I miss when it was just Jon-David and I and life was easily scheduled and we slept when we wanted to sleep and meet up for lunch or could do things using more than one hand at a time. But here we are on this crazy train!
"Don't think of your task as a burden; think of it as an opportunity to learn what love really is." -Cheryl Esplin
And we do already love her.