Short Birth Story

Here is the short (nearly-non-graphic) version...

My due date was the 21st and my mom arrived the same day. I had said that the baby could come on the 22nd and he seemed to be in cooperation! Before my doctor's appointment on the 22nd I was feeling what I thought was regular contractions and after the examination, they instantly became more intense and from 5-10 minutes. That was from about 5:00-9:00pm. I was dilated to 3 in the afternoon and did not want to go to the hospital until I was at 5, but of course it is hard to tell.
Around 10:00 I decided it was time to go, because I was getting quite uncomfortable and did not feel like dealing with pain in the car. By the time I was checked in and they examined me I was at 5!

We thought things would move faster than they did...In the next 8 hours I dilated only to 7, so when the new nurse came in she tried breaking my water and got me started on Petocin. Finally 2 hours later she declared me ready to push, which was good, but the 'bad' part was that I was on an epidural and had kept asking for more anytime I felt any pain, so I was unable to feel anything (including contractions when I needed to push).

I am still glad about that choice, because for hours I had very intense contractions, but could not feel them! Even when I was in the delivery room I was feeling great. When I could not tell when to push, but the doctor, midwife, mom and hubby were all supportive to help me.

The doctor said the head was having troubles and heartbeat dropped, so he used the vacuum. I think I only had to push about 20 minutes. The doctor said at quarter to 10 that the baby would be there by 10 and he came at 9:52. 24 hours after the contractions started!