Its Monday morning and I am still in labor. Yesterday, after I typed, we went to the Birth Center to get checked because of my constant contractions and no baby. They made a phone call and I went over to the hospital next door. The nurse at the hospital actually works with the birthing center, so we skipped registration and went straight to a room. The bed was surprisingly comfortable.
They did an ultra sound and we were able to see Gavin sucking his thumb and smiling. According the the ultra sound he weighs 7 lbs 4 ounces.
The OB there, Dr. Cofield was wonderful and in all honesty if we were birthing at a hospital I would scoop her up as my number 1 choice.
Basically everything came back normal. I am 1.75 dilated. They gave me a little morphine to help me sleep since it has really been 3 days. I didn’t fall completely asleep but did stay pretty zoned out. Adam slept like a baby.
Around 5 they checked me again and I was no further along so home we went. Last night was no different than the rest. I had a billion contractions. But, they are not consistent. Some are 2 minutes apart, some 7, some more intense than others. Some last 45 seconds, others last 90.
I’m a mess. I’m so tired that I found myself crying hysterical this morning because I couldn’t figure out how to breath through one of the contractions.
I have to admit, I am worried that this is going to be much harder than I thought. I am not having an easy labor and at this point, being this tired, I don’t know how much longer I can handle it. I really don’t know what the alternatives are, but my body really needs to start working more efficiently.
Keep exploring
Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had increasingly honest conversations about what they actually want from their lives. The leap feels bigger from outside than from inside.
Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation. The version that fits your family is the right one.
By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Familiar foods, bedtime routines, and predictable family dynamics provide stability even when the location changes. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
That people are fundamentally similar across cultures in what they want for their families. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort to get. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when the outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life. The explaining becomes less necessary as the results become visible.
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Hang in there! My first was so long and hard. Didn’t go anything like planned, but none of that mattered once she was here. Your body was made to do this.
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