This is super long, its kind of more for me so its detailed. Feel free to ignore.
I'm not really sure how long to say my labor was because I was in denial that I was actually in labor until we drove to the hospital and the nurse said I was 4 cm dilated.
On September 16th I woke up to pee for the 18th time and had trouble falling back to sleep because of a this-must-be-braxton-hicks-because-everyone-has-a-false-alarm-contraction. Those continued through the early morning and they were definitely painful, which none of my braxton hicks had been to that point in my pregnancy but I figured the farther along you get, the worse they get. Anyway, I had a Dr.'s appointment that morning, had a contraction while I was in there with the nurse, she said it seemed to be pretty painful if it were fake, and then the Doctor came in and I was at 2 cm. Super. Less I'd have to do in real labor.
I got my oil changed, went to Kohl's, met a friend for lunch and then headed home to do some cleaning. By the time I got home I was in pain so I decided to lay down. I watched a movie, took a nap and woke up in a ton of pain. Shawn came in and I told him I'd had contractions all day. By 8:30 they were getting worse so we thought it might be a good idea to start timing them. By midnight they were less than 10 minutes apart but inconsistent. I thought they would just keep getting closer and closer if they were real. Plus the pain was all really low and I thought real contractions were the whole uterus. It certainly didn't feel like the whole uterus.
We were in such denial about it being real labor that when we packed the bag we didn't include the last minute things like toothbrushes, hair brush etc. By the time I started to cry with one we decided to add those last minute things to the bag and go to the hospital. We knew we'd be turned away.
The whole way to the hospital I didn't have one contraction. Not one. We parked and just sat for a second debating whether or not to go in. We decided that since we'd driven I might as well get checked out and see what's going on with my body since I certainly wasn't in labor. As we were walking in I had a contraction. Confirmation. At the call box Shawn said, what do I say? We both felt stupid. I told him to say, I think my wife might be in labor.
Once we got in and my vitals were taken the nurse did the exam. She told me I was 4 cm and she would admit me. Shawn and I just looked at each other in disbelief. I told him to go get the stuff out of the car. We weren't about to bring it in and be laughed out of the hospital with 2 pillows and a suitcase.
Within an hour and a half I was really wanting the epidural. I didn't know if I was far enough along to get it because I had read that you should be at a 5. The nurse said a 4 was fine and she sent in the anaesthesiologist. As soon as he walked in the door I started a terrible contraction. I asked for something to puke in and as I vomited I peed. I thought my water was breaking but the nurse put this stuff on it that turns blue if its amniotic fluid. Mine didn't turn blue. Leave it to me to wet the bed while vomiting and contracting.
As soon as the epidural was in I felt instant relief and I was examined and at a 7. Progress. My water still hadn't broken and the nurse said it was bulging. Now with some pain relief we decided to try to rest up for the big moment and just as I was drifting off I felt the water balloon inside of me pop. It startled me and I gasped, startling Shawn and Kim awake as well.
Knowing that my water broke made it hard to sleep or relax. Things were getting exciting. Before we knew it I was at an 8...9...and then I felt the urge to push. The nurse examined me and said I could start pushing, we got my legs ready and then within a few... about 3 pushes Berkley was crowning. She was a little shocked and said we should probably wait for the Doctor to push some more. We waited for the Doctor for what seemed like an eternity, in reality it was probably 10-15 minutes. The whole time I kept feeling the urge to push. Finally he walked in and the fun started. I pushed and Shawn said, he's got hair, I pushed and Shawn said, his head is like, 70% out, I pushed and the Doctor said, the cord is doubled wrapped around his neck, I pushed and everyone said, look down, I pushed and Berkley was all there and I knew he was tiny. It's kind of a blurr after that, I remember seeing the Doctor hand the scissors to Shawn, I remember him cutting the cord. I remember Berk being placed on my stomach and one of the people in there (all the sudden there were like, 5 medical personnel in there I have no clue at what point they all came in, all I remember is one nurse and one doctor) kept rubbing him with the blanket and she said, my job is to keep him crying. I remember them taking him away to do all of his tests and junk. I remember someone saying, they don't get any pinker than this and that felt great to hear. I remember them saying he was 19 inches and seeing him on the scale at 6 pounds 0.8 ounces.
What a crazy night that was!!! I love my baby. I'm so happy he's here. Shawn and I are thrilled to have a family together.
