(This is a birth story. A pretty detailed one. Not gross, but detailed, so….read at your discretion!)

So…last Tuesday night, at about 11pm, I started having pretty strong contractions.  I didn’t really think anything of it, since the Sunday before I had been up all night with contractions as well, and nothing happened.  No labor, no further dilation.  So, this time, I just went back to sleep, or tried.  I did my best to sleep between the contractions, without a ton of luck.  At about 3am, I had a particularly bad contraction,that was immediately followed by the urge to pee, really bad.  So I went and peed, and then pulled out my exercise ball to sit on, since it seemed like the contractions weren’t getting any better.

So, I’m sitting there, just thinking.  The contractions were coming closer and stronger, so at that point, I was pretty sure that I was in labor, but I had no plans on going to the hospital until after I spoke with my OB, and his office didn’t open until 8:30.  I of course could have called the medical exchange to get in touch with him, but to me, there was no point in calling so early and waking him up when I wanted to labor at home for a while anyway. (Turns out he was on call that night anyway).  So, anyway, I’m sitting on the ball, breathing through contractions.  House is dark, everybody asleep except me.  Then I feel a …..weird gurgling sensation, is the best way I can describe it.  Then the urge to pee again.  So I drag myself into the bathroom and do it, but….liquid keeps coming for a little bit, and then stopped.  About 10 minutes later, same thing, and I knew my water had broken.  So I woke up Byron. It was 3:30am.

The first time, he didn’t hear me.  Just kinda mumbled something then rolled over.  The second time? He popped up out of the bed like he was on fire and started rushing around, packing my bag for me, getting Izzy ready to go, etc.  You see, after all of my talking, I had decided NOT to pack the bag until I went into labor, so I would have something to do. O_O Because I would need a distraction, right? HELL NO. I could handle the contractions, handle the pain, but I had to be perfectly.still. Don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, just let.me.be.still.please.  Guess what you can’t do while being perfectly still?  RIGHT!!! YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING!  So, I just kinda sat and watched.  At one point, I threw some miscellaneous clothes toward the bag, and I had the presence of mind to get a towel to sit on in the car. Oh, and my list!  I was able to point at my list! So we left for the hospital with everything we needed.

I walked into the triage room at the hospital at 4:30am.  We hadn’t called anyone yet because well…it was 4:30 in the morning!  We were thinking, ok, it will be a while before I need to start actually pushing or anything, so we can wait until 6am or so to call Byron’s parents to watch Izzy for us. They live about 2 hours away, so they’ll get here about 8, and Izzy can kick it with them while we deliver the baby.  Then the nurse checks my cervix.  And I’m 7cm dilated.  WHOA. ok.

Now, I know that I had been talking about doing this natural, no pain meds, all of that.  So, I was managing.  Quietly.  NO outward reaction to the contractions at ALL, with the exception of closed eyes. So, apparently, Byron and the nurses thought this meant I wasn’t in any pain. ROFLMBO.  They didn’t know that at THAT point,in my head, I was actually chainsawing my way through an army of ninjas, and that if the contractions got ANY worse, that whole quiet, zen thing I was projecting was about to turn into Silent Hill.  So, yeah, I got the epidural.  AND I DON’T REGRET IT AT AWL. yes, AWL.  I don’t feel weak, or disappointed, or less than, or anything else. BEST DECISION EVER.  (Also, with Izzy being there, quite unexpectedly, I didn’t want the experience to end up scary or traumatic for her).  So anyway, bring on the anesthesiologist, Todd.  Todd was a cool guy, as was my nurse, Heather.  Everybody loved on Izzy, which made her happy and comfortable, which made ME happy and comfortable.  Until almost 2 hours passed and I was still at 7cm.  You see, broken water puts you on a bit (or a lot) of a time crunch.  So, my OB comes and presents options.  He has surgeries scheduled from 7:30am to noon.  I can choose to start on pitocin now (it’s about 6:30-6:45am), see if we can get anything to happen before he has to go into surgery.  If I start progressing, he’ll postpone the surgeries, we’ll have a baby.  Or, I can chill until after the surgeries, just waiting, but at noon, we HAVE (I dont REALLY have to, but he would like to) to start pitocin, because my water would have been broken for more than 8 hours at that point.  I ask for time to think about it, and let them know that my epidural has taken effect enough that I can probably get my catheter now.  We do that, and I lay back, thinking I have time for a nap.

No.  No time for a nap, because apparently, my bladder had been full, which was keeping her head from coming down and helping things along.  So, in the course of about 15 minutes, I went from 7cm, let’s think about pitocin, to “Ok, time to push!”  WOW!  Izzy is still in the room, chilling with us, so Byron kept her near the head of the bed, where she helped the nurses count down my pushes for me, and offered her encouragements of “PUUUSH MOMMY, YOU CAN DO IT!”  It took me about 6 pushes to deliver Zoe, after maybe 10 minutes of pushing.  Maybe.  So, at 7:50am, on Wednesday, October 17th, baby Zoe Madison Jones was born into the world, weighing 6lbs14oz, and 20 inches long!

This birth experience was….not like the birth I thought I wanted.  My birth plan pretty much dissolved the moment my water broke honestly.  But I really wouldn’t change anything, not even having Izzy there!  I had an honestly great experience, and no complaints!