Weddingbee boards

Our EDD was 02/26.  Three weeks before that I was 80% effaced, dilated to a 1 and at a -1 station.  At my appointment a week later on 02/14 the only change was I was dilated to almost a 2 but there was no indication our LO was ready to make an appearance any time soon.  We went to bed as usual around 10pm and I woke up at 11:30 pm with what I assumed was indigestion cramps.  I’d had plenty of those in the past so I trekked myself to the bathroom with a book and my blackberry.  I never did get around to reading but I answered some work emails, checked FB, the usual.  The cramping got progressively worse and by about 12:30 am I was definitely in some pain.  I woke my husband up around 1:30 am to let him know that possibly I was in labor but that I thought it was just indigestion cramps – really bad ones mind you, but nonetheless, nothing to get too worked up over.  By 2 am I decided I’d take a hot shower to maybe see if that helped.  During this process, DH at one point asked, “Does it feel like a contraction?”  To which I responded, “How the hell should I know?  I’ve never done this before!  Just go Google it!”  So he did and came back with two scenarios, neither of which I could think about enough to determine if either description was accurate.  By about 3:15 am I decided we should go to the hospital because if this wasn’t labor, something was definitely wrong.  The pain was pretty much constant; no breaks the way contractions were described in all of our classes so I still wasn’t convinced I was in labor.  Of course, we didn’t have our bag packed so DH calmly went around packing our bag and baby’s bag, using our reference books as guides (he knows how Type A I am if he doesn’t remember all of it, though he did still manage to forget the camera).  I had wanted a natural birth so we intended to labor at home as long as possible so DH took his sweet time in case this was labor.  During this process I tried sitting on the labor/exercise ball (no good), then I leaned on it and proceeded to empty my stomach out (thank goodness for buckets).  Finally I just lay in bed and decided screw it, I wanted an epidural.  I wasn’t about to go through another 10+ hours of that kind of constant pain.  By 4:30 am we headed to the hospital and got there about 5 am.  I was taken to maternity triage and they checked me and sure enough I was dilated to a 6 or 7.  The fact that they make the woman in labor sign all of the paperwork really kind of makes no sense to me.  I got my IV and blood drawn, paperwork signed, etc. and twisted DH’s shirt a little too tight at one point near his neck.  He told me later if I’d twisted any more I would have possibly choked him a little – oops.  I was taken to my labor room by 5:20 am where the anesthesiologist was waiting for me, ready to give me the epidural (not that I think I would have been able to hold still long enough) but by then I was already at a 10 and it was too late – to which I responded a very loud “Dammit!”.  My OB was running at a nearby university (she does marathons) and it was faster for her to run the couple miles to the hospital than to go back to her car so she came running in with her little pony tail, tennis shoes, and jogging shorts.  Throughout this process I was not a quiet laborer.  There was no screaming or yelling but definite loud groans and moans with several swear words thrown in.  So as my OB was suiting up she had to sternly get my attention and told me I was going to look at her, hold my breath, not make another sound, and push twice and we’d be done.  My first push I let out my air so she said it didn’t count and to do it again.  Two pushes later my son was born at 5:41 am on 02/15, less than 5 minutes after my OB entered my room.

I ended up with the birth experience I originally intended by default since it went so quickly but the rolling contractions with no breaks were not what I was prepared for nor expected.  My son was 6 lbs 10 oz and I had a stage 2 tear.

aww! great birth story=) congratulations, he's beautiful! 

Thank you so much for sharing your story -- it is really helpful to hear about all different types of experiences!  He's beautiful -- what's his name??

@chicagowife: His name is Caleb Julian.

I appreciate all the responses.  It is only two more weeks until I'm back at work full time so I am already starting to think about how different it will be not to be with him all the time.

@Mrs. Spring: Jumping back in full time.  At least the week before I will be slowly transitioning him into daycare so it isn't quite as shocking for both of us (me mostly I'm sure) as it would be otherwise.