Sorry I haven't written in a week. I've been preoccupied with my baby. She's such a sweet, adorable, perfect little angel. It's so hard not to spend every single second with her whether she's awake or not! Right now she's napping in her pack 'n play so I'm stealing a second to play on the internet. So, I figured I'd better write her birth story before all the details escaped me. Luckily Kris and I took notes (yes, we're that geeky!) otherwise I would have forgotten most of this.

At 11:30 pm, Monday, September 6th, I had my first non-Braxton-Hicks contraction. This one hurt. It was decidedly different. It woke me up from my sleep even. I fell back asleep and at midnight, I had another one. I had contractions every half hour until 2:30 AM when they started coming every 7-10 minutes. I labored through them for a while. Eventually I woke Kris up with my "noises" (moaning or breathing loudly through them.) He helped me breathe through a couple before telling me I should get in the tub. So, the sweetie, that he is, he went to run me a bath. I soaked in the tub for about an hour and during that time, the contractions starting coming every 3-8 minutes. I could tell Kris was getting a little excited to think that this might be 'it.' I decided that I'd had enough of the tub, and Kris was really tired, so I got out and we headed back to bed. We both knew we needed our rest if this really was 'it.' After I got out of the tub, the contractions slowed to every 6-10 minutes again. Kris fell asleep fairly quickly and I slept for about 2 hours, waking each time I had a contraction and then falling asleep again. Not the most restful sleep I've ever had but I took whatever I could get at that point. Around 6 AM, I could lay there any more. I got up and started pacing the bedroom and hallway while sometimes leaning over the bed during a contraction. I think I was having back labor because my lower back hurt all the time - contraction or not. I decided to get back in the tub but only spent about 20 minutes in there this time. It just wasn't helping like it was before. The contractions were still 3-10 minutes apart. They just wouldn't get on a schedule! Around 8:30 I called the labor assessment department of the hospital out of desperation. I asked them if there was anything I could do to get my contractions down to a 5 minutes or less interval. They said all the standard things - walk around, drink water, relax, etc. I'd been doing all this for 6 hours and it wasn't helping! I called my boss around this same time to let him know I wasn't coming in that day. At 10 AM, I told Kris - that's it - we're going to the hospital. My contractions were still 3-8 minutes apart but I didn't care. I needed to know if they were doing anything or not. As you may remember, at my last doctor appointment the Thursday before, I was 2 cm dilated. I needed to know if that had changed at all. So, we headed out. I now understand why women yell at their husbands to drive faster while on the way to the hospital. It seriously felt like Kris was driving about 30 miles per hour down the highway. Of course he was going 60ish and I kept my mouth shut. We arrived at the hospital about 10:30 AM and guess what? On the way to the hospital, my contractions started coming every 2-6 minutes. Looks like Kris and I timed this perfectly! Kris dropped me off and then went to park the truck while I headed for the elevators. Either people couldn't tell I was in labor or they are all mean, heartless because they didn't just let me have the first elevator that came, no, they all had to get on with me and proceed to push every floor. Granted, I was only going to floor 3 but still, I really didn't want to stop at 2, you know what I mean? OK, I finally get to labor assessment and just as the nurse is getting ready to check me, Kris arrives. Turns out I'm 4 cm dilated and the contractions are coming less than 5 minutes apart. And just like that, I'm admitted. I'm brought to my labor room (room number 7 by the way) and immediately undress so I can get in the jacuzzi. My back is still hurting and I'm hoping the jets will help. I labor in the tub for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until finally, at 12:30 PM, I ask Kris to get a nurse. I want to ask for an epidural. Kris is surprised by this since I wanted to try to do this naturally and here I was going from no drugs straight to the epidural. Something in me just kept saying though - "Don't be a martyr. You've been doing this for 10 hours already and you're only 2 cm more dilated than you were on Thursday. You haven't slept in forever. Just get the epidural so you can rest." So, I did. Well, I did at 1:30 PM. First though they had to start the IV so they could get the bag of fluids in me. Can't have an epidural while dehydrated. They also started my antibiotics at that time since I was GBS positive. And they gave me a shot of nubain to take the edge off my contractions since I was now confined to the bed. At 1:30, the anesthesiologist arrived and put my epidural in. I felt some slight pressure, said "ow" once and that was it. They did have to poke me twice to get the epidural in the right spot but it didn't bother me. Kris said it was the longest needle he's ever seen. Yes, he watched them put the epidural in. No, he's not a squeamish person. I was also checked again and found to be 5 cm now. Yay - half way there! For the next 2 hours, I slept. At 3:30 PM, I was checked and found to be 6-7 cm dilated. Man, this sure is taking a long time! So, the doctor broke my water to try and get me to dilate faster. I got back to sleeping and resting. Two hours later, I'm checked again and am only 7 to 7 1/2 cm dilated. The doctor put an internal contraction monitor in me (and a catheter) to check the strenth of my contractions. Turns out that while I was having them every 1-2 minutes and sometimes they were doubling, they weren't that strong so they weren't dilating me very fast. At 7:15, I'm checked again and I'm still only 8 to 8 1/2 cm and the baby is at -1 station. Yes, it's taken me over 8 hours at this point to go 4 cm. The doctor decides to give me a "whiff" of pitocin (the lowest dose possible) to see if they can get my contractions to strengthen. At 7:45, I'm checked and at 9cm. I guess that pitocin is helping, even though I'm shaking pretty badly at this point from it. They up the dosage one notch to see if they can get me to complete. At 8:35 I'm checked again and only at 9 1/2 cm. Come on already! I'm starting to get frustrated. Can't I just push already! I mean, I can feel the pressure down below that I need to push. But, of course, I can't. My cervix isn't ready. At this time, the pressure and urge to push keeps getting stronger and stronger. So, around 9:15 PM, they give me a bullus (spelling?). Basically, they give me a shot of the epidural medication so the pressure down below will lessen. Finally at 9:45 PM, I'm given the all clear to start pushing. Because of the shot of medication, I can no longer feel the pressure and don't know when I'm having a contraction. So, Kris or the nurse or the nursing student have to tell me. Kris is holding my left leg. The nursing student is holding my right and the nurse is telling me when to push. Kris and the nurse are counting with me. As the shot of epidural starts to wear off (it usually only last an hour), I can feel the pressure again and I start telling them when I need to push as I can feel the contractions starting. I think this helps though because I can now feel where I need to push, not just the need to push. When the baby is almost crowning, the nurse has both Kris and I touch the top of her head. Wow, was that cool! A few pushes later, the nurse tells me to stop pushing so she can call the doctor in. Fine, fine, that's fine. That means I'm almost done! Yes, yes, get the doctor. Yay! Um, where's the doctor? Why isn't she here yet? Hello, I need to push. Where's the doctor. Yeah, at this point I start getting a little "testy." I think I "asked" 2 or 3 times where the doctor was. I needed to push and I needed to push NOW. I did a few "little" pushes while the nurse wasn't looking because the urge and need was too great. Kris caught me a couple times and told me to stop it. Finally, FINALLY, the doctor arrived. I don't know where she was or what she was doing (sleeping probably) but she didn't have time to even tie her shoes while she was running into the room and getting her scrubs and gloves on. So, I'm given the clear to push again and a few pushes later, the baby's head pops out. They start suctioning her. I look at Kris and he's crying. He's crying big tears. I almost start to cry just looking at him cry. But my work is not done. They tell me to push again and I deliver her shoulders and then she slides on out. Annika May was born at 11:47 PM. They continue suctioning her before placing her on my belly. They clamped the cord and let Kris cut it. I stare at her in awe (my little monkey!) the whole time. Then they take her over to the warming bassinet to check her vitals and do whatever else it is they do. She hasn't really cried yet though. She's made little noises, but no crying. They continue suctioning her. I ask Kris if she's okay. He assures me (he's by her and the nurses) that she is. That she's just full of mucous and they need to get it out. That she's pinking up so she's getting enough oxygen. I ask him to count fingers and toes. :) They just can't get all the mucous out with the bulb syringe so they call in the nurses from the nursery. While waiting for them to arrive, they give her the vitamin K shot, weigh her, etc. When the other nurses arrive, they stick a tube down Annika's throat and suction out her lungs. They have to do this 4 times before getting all that gunk out. Finally, FINALLY, she is brought back to me. I hold her, touch her, coo at her and feed her for the first time. I'm amazed as she latches on perfectly the very first time and starts eating away. Kris and I bond with our baby, decide on her name (remember, we had 2 we were still deciding between) and fall madly in love with her and each other all over again. Oh, and we have our first family picture taken by our nurse. About 2 hours after birth, we're wheeled to our recovery room where we'll spend the next 2 days before going home. No, labor didn't go as I'd envisioned. I didn't envision a 21 hour labor, an epidural, pitocin, etc. But you know what? I don't care about any of that. My daughter was born healthy and that's all that matters. Welcome to the world, my precious.