labor day...part 1

Actually....it all started 4 years ago from yesterday.

I was late. Not period late…that sucker had been gone for 9 months, but late as in "where the fork is this baby..I'm a week friggin late!" late.

It was September 2nd and I had an appointment with my doctor that day as well as a non-stress test since I was a week overdue.  I had been scheduled to be induced on Wednesday morning and I was just so over the pregnancy and just wanted to meet my little guy.  My doctor's appointment was fine, she did a little something called scraping (sorry for TMI) which was just lovely, then I was off to meet Mike to get my non-stress test and ultrasound.

We went up to the ultrasound tech first and it was near impossible to see our little guy. I mean he was there obviously, but he was so squished in there it was hard to make out what we were seeing. She told me that it looked like he was about 8lb 3oz (yaaaa.....) and that everything looked fine.

Off we went to do the actual non-stress test where they basically put a monitor on your belly and you have to sit there for however long so they can monitor you. I honestly forget what exactly they are looking for, I just know we were there for like 30 minutes and I had to drink juice. The funny thing is that I was actually having contractions the whole time. Nothing crazy, just a little tightening of the belly and honestly, if she hadn't told me what they were I might not have known.

I'm pretty sure we went out to dinner after, I can't remember. All I know is that I knew something was going on, and if I did go into full on labor I didn't want it to be until after I got to watch the season premier of the new 90210. Yes. I have issues.

I made it the whole way through the awesome (not) show but was feeling a little odd. Mike came to bed and I was sitting there and all of a sudden felt something like a trickle you know where. I thought it was odd, so I went to the bathroom, but there was no gush of water or anything. I thought maybe I was leaking so I threw a pad on and decided we should start timing the contractions.  Let me interject here with the fact that I had strep b and because of that once my water broke I needed to be on IV antibiotics. I was a little nervous, but figured I'd be okay since my water hadn't officially broken.

I think we timed my contractions for like an hour and then I knew it was go time. I called the on-call doctor line and the nurse or whoever it is that answers the phone said they'd page him. 30 minutes later...still no call back, so I called again. Again I was told that the doctor would call me back. 30 minutes go by and nothing. At this point I was getting worried and figured we should probably just go to the hospital. I went ahead and called labor and delivery (they had given me an instruction sheet with contact info for my induction appointment the next day). The woman I spoke to was super nice, and since I was supposed to be there at 5am the next day anyway, she told me to come on down. It was probably about 1am by this time, and I think we got to the hospital around 1:30 or so.

We checked in and the nurses had fun guessing how dilated I was based on my demeanor. I think the winner was 3 cm. Nothing crazy for sure.  I changed into the most stunning hospital gown, along with a matching pair of lovely no slip socks and settled in. Again, I was adorned with the belly monitor to check the baby's heartbeat and monitor my contractions. Which was probably the coolest thing...seeing the contractions on the print out thingy.

I honestly can't even tell you how long I was in there before the nurse came in and asked if I wanted an epidural. For some reason this question caught me off guard. Well, sure I wanted one, but should I have it now? My biggest fears about labor were that I'd wait too long and not be able to get an epidural, or that I would be pushing for a while and end up having a c-section.  The contractions weren't too bad, but definitely getting more painful, so I said "sure". Big mistake. Big. Huge!

A short while after I had my epidural the nurse checked me out. She called my mid-wife over and told her that she didn't think my water had broken. My mid-wife checked and said that I was fine. I knew that because I had the epidural it was going to take a bit longer since the drugs slow things down, but I was okay with that. Mike and I both slept for a bit getting ready for the arrival of our little guy the next day :)