The Birth Story:
Around 3:30 on Friday morning (Jan. 22) I woke up with some mild cramping. I've had a lot of "false labor" pains over the past few weeks, so I figured that's what it was and fell back asleep for a few minutes. At 4 a.m. I felt a stronger pain and thought "That's new" and started timing them. I got out of bed so I wouldn't wake Adam up (he had worked until midnight and I didn't see the point in both of us being wide awake yet) and started timing my contractions. They were stronger than the Braxton Hicks I'd been having and coming every 10-12 minutes regularly, so I knew I was starting early labor but figured I was in for a long day (for those who aren't familiar, you usually don't go to the hospital until contractions are about 4-5 minutes apart). At 7:30 Adam woke up and almost exactly at that time I had a really strong contraction and knew it hadn't been nearly 10 minutes. I figured it was a fluke, but a few more came close together so I had him start timing them (at this point they were to strong for me to time myself) and realized they were coming 2-3 minutes apart. I called my Dr. (who didn't answer right away), then my mom, who said to go get checked out at the hospital. My dr.'s wife (who works in his office and both are good friends of the family) called back and said the same thing. She also said that my dr. was already there in surgery. The contractions were extremely strong at this point, so we were furiously trying to get out the door. A friend arrived to get Roux and we got in the car and got going as quickly as possible (this seriously could have been the typical movie scene, Adam driving like crazy, me in serious pain, etc). We got to the hospital and ran to the Labor and Delivery room. After a few minutes (felt like forever) of annoying paper work they put us in a room. I instantly asked for an epidural. The nurse said she would check my progress then see what she could do. She checked, said I was at 9 centimeters (babies are born at 9-10 centimeters) and the epidural wasn't going to happen. They called my dr. and he said he'd be there in 10 minutes. I had been feeling the need to push since before getting in the car, so I wasn't sure I had 10 minutes! The nice nursing staff (who were quickly filling the room) nicely asked me to try to wait for him. They got me set up to push and as soon as he walked in I started pushing. I have no idea how long that lasted, I just knew I was in major pain and wanted that kid out. Apparently I was yelling the typical cliche's "get him out, just pull him out of me" or something. I don't really remember, just the pain! After 3 pushing "sessions" he was out - less than 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital and only 1 1/2 hours of active labor. I never expected to give birth without pain meds (more power to the women who choose this, but I'm a fan - especially since they were the reason for a good progression of labor with Roux), and I certainly never expected to be one of those stories of women who barely made it to the hospital. Crazy and glad it's done and I never intend to do it again!
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