So here it is....
My due date was March 1, 1998.
Kevan and I woke up late on February 15 which was unusual for us because we always went to church on Sunday mornings. I think we finally rolled out of bed around 10:00am!!! Since the day before was Valentine's Day and the 15th is our six month wedding anniversary (go ahead...I'll give you a minute to do the math... ;) ), we decided to go out for dinner at Red Lobster.
After we got home from dinner I started having some bloody show. No contractions, just that. Of course I dug out my What To Expect When You Are Expecting book (*GAG*). Which told me that it could be normal or could be a sign of labor. I quite quickly dismissed the "sign of labor" bit because I was a full two weeks from my due date.
We didn't do much the rest of the evening. At one point we sat down to play on the PlayStation together. As we were playing I noticed that I was having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions, nothing abnormal for me. They never really let up. After a while I secretly started timing them and they were coming every three to five minutes. Hmmmmm. I finally said something to Kevan about it. I don't remember if I went to lay down for a while or not. Finally, I think it was around 11:00pm or so, we decided to just go to the hospital and get checked. I just KNEW we would be home later and that it was nothing. I think I even told my Mom on the phone that I would call her later when we got home.
At the hospital they put me in triage to see if I was really in labor. I remember being checked and told that I was four or five centimeters! I looked at the resident and said, "Sooo....that means I have to stay?"
It wasn't much longer that things picked up and got a bit harder to manage. They (finally) moved me to a LD room. What I remember about that was they made me walk. Which is absolutely fine and oh so helpful for moving things along. BUT I was having bloody show still and what is so vivid to me now is how humiliating it was walking down the hall, while contracting, with bloody show running down my leg.
I don't remember the time frame of everything other than when the contractions *really* got started and when she was born. I do remember that once I was in the LD room, things got tough!! I also realized that Lamaze (DISCLAIMER: The way it was taught then. NOT the way it is taught now. ;) ) was a bunch of crap!!! At one point I told the nurse I was ready for the epidural. She checked me and I was seven centimeters. She helped get me prepped and we waited. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited. Listening to the anesthesiologist talking to the other nurses in the hall. And we waited.
While we were waiting I started feeling a really weird urge that I couldn't stop. ;) I hung onto the nurses jacket, scared about what I should be doing. The last I heard them tell me was that I was only seven centimeters, not time to push. So I fought the urge as best as I could. The anesthesiologist finally came in and dosed me up. And thankfully the nurse knew what was going on with me. She told Kevan to go out and tell them we needed someone (I can't remember who..lol). Then said, "Let's lay you down and check you to see where you are at now." When she did, the amniotic sac was bulging out!!!
Then things got crazy. People started appearing in the room that I had never seen before. The resident came in because my doctor hadn't made it to the hospital yet. He broke my water and I pushed just three times.
Emily was born at 4:32am. :)
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