My husband and I moved to Japan when I was five months pregnant with the thought that I would be able to relax and enjoy pregnancy. And we both did.

As the day drew near for me to have the baby, we both became more and more excited. Then, while looking for a clinic to have the baby at, we found out they don't offer pain relief in labor. They also don't induce until 43 or 44 weeks. Needless to say, we were shocked, but not too badly. We wanted to try for a natural birth anyway, so this just made it easier!

We found a wonderful clinic, with a great staff. All the nurses were so excited that we were having an American baby in their clinic.

On March 22 at 3:20 a.m. (just two days before my due date) I woke up and thought I had peed on myself. If I moved, it was worse, and I was embarrassed. At that time it didn't occur to me that it could be my water breaking. I managed to roll over and nudge my husband awake. I sent him to go get me towels, then to give me a moment of privacy to fix the situation. Once I managed to waddle myself to the bathroom with a towel between my legs, I knew what had happened.

My contractions were immediately under five minutes apart. We started loading up to go to the hospital. Unfortunately, we had just moved into a new apartment they day before, and it took time to find our baby bag, hospital bag and clothes for me to wear. Then we were off!

We arrived at the hospital at 4 a.m., thanks to the total lack of traffic, and I was immediately put on a contraction monitor. That hour was the worst! I had to lie on my side, which was excruciating, and try to answer the standard questions between contractions. At one point the well-meaning nurse asked if it hurt. All of this had to be translated by my husband, who was also trying to keep me hydrated. I was checked and told I was at 6 or 7 centimeters dilated.

After the first horrible hour, I was allowed to get up and move to my permanent room to labor. I found that it was best for me to sit cross-legged on the edge of the bed and have my husband stand in front of me to keep me from falling. In between contractions, I slept. When the doctor checked me again at about 8 a.m., she told me I was at 10, ready to push and that she could see the head. She left to go call the lady who helps with the delivery, and my nurse helped me into a hospital robe/gown (not backless, thank goodness!) and told me how to breathe.

Up to this point, I had no desire to push. My contractions weren't too bad, and I would have one strong contraction that I would have to breathe through, then a little one that was OK. I was able to walk myself to the delivery room and get myself on the delivery chair. Another monitor was hooked to me, and I was gowned, cleaned, prepped and oxygenated. This was the easiest part of labor, since I was too interested in what the staff was doing to care too much about the contractions.

I had a strong contraction and the nurses showed me how to push correctly. On the next contraction, I felt the head, and they made me stop pushing halfway through so they could unwrap the cord from my son's neck. That hurt, since his shoulders were still stuck in my pelvis. Luckily, the cord came off easily, and Landon Everett was born at 8:59 a.m. in Iida, Japan!

Landon was 3,406 grams and 49.4 centimeters long. My whole labor was under five hours and 45 minutes from first contraction to birth, and all of it completely natural.

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. I remember being really surprised when the doctor told me I was at 10 centimeters. Everything I had read said it would hurt a lot more, and that I would feel a need to push. I felt no need to push, and if it hadn't been for the pain in the back of my pelvis (a result of the baby being sunny side up at the start of labor and pushing on my tail bone) I would have slept through a lot of it.

The doctor had to stitch up two tears, and when I asked how many stitches, she held up a foot of string and said "just one string."

All in all, the birth was amazing, and I'm so glad to have made it through without drugs (which might have really hurt the baby, since he was blue when he came out from the cord) and with my husband with me. It was a very special moment for the both of us to go from a couple to a family.