Tuesday

What an interesting day. I started the day a little depressed that I wasn't in labor or having a kid. Everything on the "how to induce labor naturally" list had been tried. (well almost everything I wasn't about to drink caster oil or some of the weird herbs) Plus my Dr had already striped my membranes twice. Believe me nothing worked. I was sick of people asking when I was going to have the baby or if I was alright. Look yes pregnant woman weigh a lot more than normal and have limited mobility but that doesn't mean they are incapable of functioning normally. I swear people thought I was lying when I said that I was alright. I finally had to come to the realization that the baby was going to come when she wanted to come. Nothing I did was going to change that. I tried to get on with the day not focusing on the baby but just getting things done.
Around 1 pm I went over to my grandparents to drop off some papers. I chatted with them for a while and then came home. I worked on some chores but got bored and around 2:30 I rode my scooter over to my parents house to pick up my planner I had left there earlier. No one was home. It was like a wasted trip, so I came home and finally did the dishes.
When the last pan was drying(around 4:15), I checked the mail and relaxed on the couch for a while, waiting for Rick to get home (around 6:30) because I could then have some company. Hopefully he could think of something to break the boredom. At 4:30 my back started to hurt so I laid down for a little bit. By 4:45 my back really hurt so I decided to jump in the shower to get some hot water on my back. I thought this would relieve some of the discomfort. A few mins later, while in the shower, my water broke. Not what I expected to have happen but I couldn't have asked for a better place, No mess to clean up.
I got out and proceeded to call Rick who was still at work. I tried his cell phone. No answer. I then called the nurses station on his floor. They put me on hold while they tracked him down. (I got dressed during this time) The kind person got back on the phone and said that Rick was helping someone with a bloody nose and that if it wasn't his wife in labor to take a message. I stated to the lady that it was his wife and that my water had broken. She then put me on hold and got Rick for me.
Moments later, (5:00pm) I was on the phone with my mom to have her drive me to the hospital (not the same hospital Rick works but another one located closer to our house) where Rick would meet me as quickly as possible. She came and picked me up. During the 7 min drive to the hospital I felt my first contraction. Which was bearable but uncomfortable. My mom walked me up to labor and delivery where we stood at the nurses station for 10 mins waiting for someone to come help me. During which the contractions were getting closer. It was a very busy floor at the time. They finally got me into a room and hooked up to monitors. At the time I was dilated to a 3 and having contractions every 2 mins. They started asking me the admission questions.
Poor Rick in the mean time had left the hospital at the peak of rush hour. He said that it was the fastest he had ever tried to get home and due to red lights and tons of people trying to get home it took him the longest to get home. He picked up a few things and finally made it to the hospital at 6pm. I had just finished up answering the admission questions. They checked me again and in less than 45 min I dilated to a 5.
At this point the contractions were killing me. Back labor is horrible! All I could do was curl up in a ball and cry to edure the pain of each contraction. All I wanted at this point was my IV so I could get an Epidural and the nurse was still asking me questions. I could care less about having a photographer take pictures of the baby I just was in pain and she wasn't helping.
Finally they set up an IV which my beloved nurse missed the first time and called the anesthesiologist. Rick this whole time was in an awkward position trying to rub my back. The good doctor had me roll on my side. My contractions were so close there wasn't time to stick me in between. So Rick held me down during the next contraction while the Dr stuck my spine.
THANK HEAVEN FOR DRUGS!!!!!!! I have no clue how woman gave birth without it. I went from a withered ball of patheticness to someone that could still move (it was a good epidural), talk and finally relax. It was like night and day. My doc came to check on me and said that the average 1st time labor takes at least 8 hours and he predicted we would have a child around 2 or 3 in the morning. Due to the time line I sent Rick out to get some dinner. I progressed a little faster than planned by the time Rick got back from dinner the nurse was ready for me to do some trial pushes. They then had me wait for the doctor to get there. Women usually push for 2 hrs their first labor. Doc got into the room ready to help me push and then 6-10 contractions later we had a baby. The Dr said that 5 hours from water breaking to baby in hand wasn't too shabby for a rookie.