10:30: on Thursday August 30th I began feeling contractions. This was nothing new as I have a few false alarms, and they were really inconsistent in length and time in between. Although they were definitely more painful than anything else I had experienced. I had a feeling that this was the real deal.
11:00: Andrew got home and I tried to get him to stay awake with me since I was not getting any sleep, but he fell asleep shortly into the movie I had put on.
12:00: it felt like the contractions were going away and I was able to fall asleep.
1:00: woke up with really bad pain in my lower back. I got up and sat on my birthing ball for awhile breathing through the contractions and timing them. Within the hour my contractions went from 8 min apart to 3 min apart.
2:00: woke up Andrew and told him I thought this was the real thing. He refused to believe me and kept trying to all back to sleep.
2:30: finally convinced Andrew that we should head to the hospital. We called ahead to let them know we were coming and then I called my mom to tell her that's where we were headed.
3:00 Arrived at the hospital. Based on what they saw while we were checking in and the answers I gave them. They determined I was in true labor and put me right into a room instead of taking me first to triage. They monitored me for a little bit while they were getting the jacuzzi ready because by this point the contractions were getting really uncomfortable. I was 4cm dilated
4:00: Hit the jacuzzi. Which felt AWESOME in between contractions, but when the next contraction hit boy did it not feel good. I was not able to find a good position in the tub in order relieve the pain.
4:30: Back to the room to try some other pain management techniques. By this point the pain in my lower back was almost unbearable during the contractions and not much better in between. I tried the birthing ball. I tried hands and knees. I tried sitting on the rocking chair and leaning on the bed. I tried having Andrew push on my lower back during a contraction. Nothing brought even the slightest bit of relief.
5:30: Asked for the epidural. But the Anesthesiologist was in a C-Section and not able to come for a while. So I got pain medication through the IV which took the edge off my contractions.At this point the nurse checked me and I was 5cm but stretching to 6 with contractions.
6:30: Anesthesiologist came in and began putting in the epidural. Honestly I thought the that they epidural would be extremely painful and you always here the horror stories of how big the needle is. All I felt was the tiny prick of them putting in the numbing medication and then nothing else. I never saw any of the tools he was using.
7:30: Epidural is in and working. The epidural was amazing. I could not feel any pain but I still had full function of my legs and could move them around. I could feel her moving and I could feel pressure, but ZERO pain. I was feeling awesome, and the Dr. came in to check to see how I was doing. I was 6cm dilated and my water was bulging so the Dr went ahead and broke my water. For the next hour I was feeling well enough to have some visitors and watch some of the Hunger Games. I was getting hungry but that was my only complaint.
8:30: fell asleep
10:30: Awake and at 9.5 cm and they started getting the room ready and said we could meet her by lunch time. They said they would hold off calling the Dr. because I still had a couple hours of pushing ahead of me.
10:45: wanted me to do some practice pushes just so I could see what it was like. One push and I got to 10cm and the nurse could see Dani's head (she had hair!) told me to stop pushing while they called the Dr.
The Dr. came in and and a few contractions and pushes later Dani was out at 11:04.
All the Nurses and the Dr. were raving about how smoothly everything went.
Even from the get go Dani was so mellow the nurses couldn't get her to cry when they were rubbing her. She was wide awake and alert for awhile after she was born.
9lbs 4oz and 20.5 in long. She is perfect.
