This is the story of Cody's birth, our second natural birth story we have. This was our second planned pregnancy. We had a wonderful natural water birth with our first son, and loved caring for him so much that we could not wait to have another baby.

We got pregnant with Cody on our first month of trying. Joshua was 16 months old at the time and everything was wonderful. Of course I ended up going through the same extreme 9-month pregnancy sickness again (I had the same with my first pregnancy and it was horrible) ... but I knew what I was up against. It was worth it!

Everything was going well with our plans for another water birth at the same hospital and midwife we had with our first son. Then a major hurtle hit our family. Hurricane Katrina!

We lived in New Orleans for 10 years. I graduated college there, we got married there, had our first son there, had an entire life there! Here we are ... 6 months pregnant, with a 20-month-old son, and now found ourselves living with my parents in Florida! Wow ... not a planned part of all of this planning! What to do?

To make a whole entire story short ... we got an apartment in a part of Florida (where my company transferred me to ... I carried the insurance ... i.e. 6 months pregnant and having a family to take care of with a husband out of work due to Katrina). My husband and I decided to have him stay out of work for a while to care for our first son and to get our life back on track. My job was to continue working to provide the rest of the medical coverage for our family and to finish the pregnancy (as well as bringing home some money).

This leaves us to the main story now, I promise. We could not retrieve our medical records, so we had to start the entire pregnancy over with again in the eyes of the medical standpoint. Within just two weeks of Katrina I had a big job of finding new health care for the rest of my pregnancy. Thank goodness I was fortunate enough to find a birthing center just 15 minutes of our new apartment. This was just a relief because I did not want to have a medical-filled birth after our wonderful all-natural water birth we experienced with our first son, on top of all the other stress our little family was going through at the time.

The birthing center we contacted became a wonderful stable and comfort to us during those trying months. They gave us such wonderful care and comfort knowing that we would be able to have the birth we had planned ... even though our life was not going completely as planned.

OK, here comes the birth story part, I promise.

The pregnancy progressed fine with the care of my new midwives and birthing center staff. They adopted our family with open arms and cared for us mentally and physically. They helped us every step of the way. They were a godsend to us during our very unplanned transition. What a stable support they were for us and helped us to focus on what was to come.

The company I worked for was very supportive of whatever I needed and worked with me and the pregnancy. I am very thankful for that! And my husband's support, and him being at home taking care of everything, made it so much better! I was concentrating on our son, working and pregnancy, while my husband took care of our son during the day and all the details of "the insane move." We worked together to make sure this worked well for our family.

Now, getting closer to the birth of our son I was more ready than ever. I had adopted our new birthing mindset at the new birthing center, with the new midwives, and going through the motions of preparing for another baby, just not exactly like I thought it would be. Not in the exact place, with the exact person, etc., when we planned this pregnancy.

Our due date was December 27, but I was three weeks early with my first son and with all the stress we had in those few short months, I had a feeling I could go early again. I was ready to have the baby and have the pregnancy over with.

I kept having contractions for periods of time and then with resting they would go away. I went in for a checkup with the midwives at my 36th week and they said I was 4 centimeters dilated! Wow! In order to have a baby at the birthing center I have to be within the 37-week time line. I was new to the area and I was not prepared to have a hospital birth with a doctor and hospital I did not know. I went on limited activity to make sure I could make it to the 37th week.

It was a great moment to make it to the 37th week and make sure I could have the birth I wanted, just like my first and just like how we wanted this one to go. Then it seemed like I would never have this baby.

Finally, on December 15, 2005, at 4 a.m. my water broke while sleeping and the contractions hit me immediately, very hard. With my first son, I had easy labor contractions for a few hours at home and then my water broke, and then he was born about three hours later. This was different. My water broke and I immediately went into labor with contractions about two minutes apart. It kind of scared me because they were so fast and furious.

We called the midwives and they had me come in immediately. By the time my sister came over to care for our first son, Joshie, and us getting in the car, it was just before 6 a.m. My contractions were coming so fast and so hard I was a bit scared that we might not make it!

I made my husband get to the birthing center (about 15 minutes away) as fast as possible. We arrived at the birthing center and found out that another mother was laboring in the birthing tub. What a shock to me because I had never given all-natural birth without the water. I was a bit scared to know that I would be giving natural childbirth without the aid of the birthing tub!

I immediately "shifted gears" and my husband and I climbed into the shower and rocked through my contractions. It was intense, and I was still a bit scared, but I had to go on.

Then came the urge to push and it was intense. We got out of the shower and went into the birthing room at the birthing center. It was a beautiful room; it reminded me of a Victorian bed and breakfast type room – four poster bed, dimmed lights, beautiful sheets, beautiful décor and lots of caring women and my husband around me helping me.

I tried every position I could but I just could not get the correct position. I wanted to try the birthing stool, thinking that could give me the relief that I read about. I just sat there during contractions as limp as I could to relax myself. I remember Jason trying to rub my back (like I desperately needed him to do with Joshie's birth), but this birth was different. I needed to concentrate on my body and relaxing. I needed to be in my own world and not having interruptions.

Smiling as I write this, I remembering looking at the nurse midwives as I pushed Jason's hand away from my lower back. He was just offering me support like he knew it from our first labor with Joshie, (which I so much needed and asked for repeatedly, to the point that my lower back was bruised from Joshie's labor) and seeing them smiling at him and giving him reassurance that it was OK.

I then knew that this was not right for me, and our birthing, and I moved to the bed. It was time! I leaned across the edge of the bed and connected my with one of the nurse midwives. She helped breathe with me to get through the last few moments of labor. I also remember that if I let my mind think that it hurt those contractions would hurt to an intensity that could let me get out of control. So I would erase those thoughts from my mind and would literally say out loud, "It's going to go away...It's going to go away...It's going to go away." And it did! Every time! It made labor so much more manageable to not think (or say) it hurts, but instead to think/say that it will go away!

Then, just shortly after, I knew it was really time and I lay down on the bed, on my back (which I never knew that is how I would want to give birth; I read too much on what might and could be a better position to give birth), and I just started to push. I felt the pressure change to urgency and I knew it was the final moment. I pushed so hard because I knew that as soon as the baby was born that all the pain would be over.

I also remember that when the baby was crowning that it was so intense! I remember trying to put my hand on my perineum to help push back the pressure and alleviate the intense burning pain. At that time my nurse midwife put the warm compresses on my perineum and applied counter pressure. So much relief came from that!

I think it took two pushes and Cody was born! It was immediate relief and immediate amazement that Cody was here! He was finally here! After all we had been through in the past few months, the one thing we had planned before all the craziness was here! It was a wonderful experience for me and my husband! It was a moment of peace and happiness for us!

And what an amazing experience for us – and me. I had just given birth to our second son. It was not a water birth, like our first, but I had been given a new experience to birth naturally without water birth. After my first birth, a water birth, I did not think that I could even deal with natural child birth without the water, but I did it. Yes, I did feel that the all-natural childbirth was a bit more comforting (as comforting as all natural child birth could be) in the water, but I am happy to have both natural childbirth experiences!

Cody was born on December 15, 2005, at 7:03 a.m. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces. He immediately took to breastfeeding and was breastfed (again, no formula for this baby) for 18 months. He is a very happy, healthy big boy and full of smiles.

I know that this story is long, but I just wanted to share this entire experience with you.

Our first birth is on birthstories.com. It is called Wonderful Water Birth. It is found in the "First Babies: Natural Births" category. You can read that story, if you like, the story of the birth of our first son, before our life changed in one day – the wonderful water birth that we wanted to repeat exactly the same way. But I would not change Cody's birth for anything. It was completely amazing. And we call it our "fast and furious" birth. And it was great to have both experiences of natural childbirth!

We are loving our boys, and each other as a married couple (for eight years married, 13+ years together as a couple), and how they are growing. Everything has been a great experience and we are doing great! We have the four of us and we are strong! Each one of us is an important part of our family of four! Thanks for reading our story.