The Day Before

I can't tell you how many times I've kicked myself for not having a better timeline of this day. But, here is what I remember.

The night before: When I go to bed, I have a bit of an upset stomach. I wonder if it's the start of something, but dismiss it because the doctors kept telling me I would probably go late.

3 AM: I wake up with a slight pain. That's interesting. I wonder if it's a contraction? Roll back over and go back to sleep. I'm woken up about every 15-20 minutes. Pretty sure they're contractions.

5 AM: Alarm goes off. Time for my walk with Zoey. I double check that I have my phone with me. Throughout the walk I have contractions. They're not too painful but in the 1 mile walk I have about three. When I get home, I lay on the couch and time the length and distance between them. I'm having one about every ten minutes that lasts 30-60 seconds. When they don't go away after 30 minutes of laying still and drinking water, I decide that maybe this is it. I go wake up Ben. It's about 6:30.

6:30 - 12:30: Ben and I shower and start running errands. We really thought we were going to have the weekend to do the last minute things. We go to Home Depot to get a piece of plywood for the crib (for our monitor that detects movements). We go to Target for some random stuff including some snack food for the hospital. We also run to Babies R Us to buy the car seat. We had one, but Ben decided he wanted it to be more girly. We come home, got the crib ready and the car seat installed. We also eat lunch. All this time we have been keeping track of contractions. They're anywhere from 2-12 minutes apart. Some are painful enough that I have to stop what I'm doing to breathe for a bit. But still, not too bad.

12:30 PM: I call my clinic to let them know what's going on. I am supposed to be having my 40 week appointment today with the only doctor we haven't met yet. They tell me to go ahead and go to the hospital for them to check me out. We finish packing our bags and head out. I think we may have called the soon-to-be grandparents to let them know what was going on.

1:30 PM: We get to the hospital. They put monitors on me to check on the baby and the contractions. They check things out. They agree that I'm in labor, but I'm not to a 3 yet, so they won't admit me. They tell us to walk around the floor for an hour and they will recheck. We make countless loops. We look at the babies in the nursery.

2:30 PM: We go back to the little room and get hooked up again. Contractions are more intense. And they think I'm at a 3, so they start the process of admitting me. But it's also the time where the shift of nurses change, so things take a little longer. But that's ok. When we are brought to our room, I'm happy to find that it's one with a great view of the woods and fields. Nature is calming to me.

This is where the times get a little fuzzy...

5 PM?: It's around this time that we meet the doctor on call from our clinic - Dr. Paulson. She is the only doctor of the four possible that we hadn't met. She's just delivered a baby down the hall. She seems a little more interested in talking with the nurses than with me. But she seems nice. She checks on me and then breaks my water. Apparently it was bulging. It was a very weird sensation.

6 - 9:30 PM: I'm pretty uncomfortable. The contractions are getting pretty strong. I'm not comfortable in any position. And based on the monitor on the baby, the nurses are guessing that she is "sunny side up." They want me on my side to help her move into position. We decide to try a hot bath. That doesn't help. I'm exhausted. If I knew that it would only be a few more hours, I could hang on. But I think I've only made it to a 5 so far so it could be a long time. The pain is getting so intense that I am left shaking and shivering after each contraction. I'm worried that I won't have the strength to push. Ben and I talk about our options. I agree to an epidural. Ben tells the nurse and they put in the request.

10:30 PM: The doctor (not the delivery one) is here to give me an epidural. I'm worried that my shaking will make it impossible for him to get it in. I try to be as still as I can. He gets it in without any problems. Ben asks if it's helped with the pain. I didn't even realize that I had another contraction. So, yep! It helps. I start to feel strange and weird. My head hurts. Turns out it is because my blood pressure has plummeted as a result of the epidural. I get a bag of fluids. I slowly start to feel better. Once I get stabilized, the nurses leave us to let us get some sleep.