utlawgirl
I woke up at around 6 am on Tuesday with some mild contractions. Nothing too serious, but a little stronger than the Braxton Hicks I'd been feeling. I slept for a couple more hours until Pat got up to go to work, and then got up and went about my day. Contractions continued to come every so often, but I figured it was just my body gearing up for labor down the line. I didn't realize at the time that I was in early labor! While I knew she could arrive at any time, I hadn't really had any signs of impending labor and I figured it would be a while. I started addressing Christmas cards and trying to keep my mind off things, and contractions continued to get stronger, although nothing too painful. I started timing them to see if there was a pattern around 1 pm, and they were still fairly far apart (every 7-15 minutes) and mild, although I had started breathing through them. I had lunch and went for a walk around 3, and I was still able to walk through the contractions. I still didn't quite believe it was the real thing until around the time Pat got home from work, and contractions were getting more intense. I got in the bath to see if it would help and/or slow things down, but at that point the contractions were getting really painful, to the point where I had to vocalize through them and have Pat help me with pressure on my back. I got out of the bath and tried to lie down for a while, and things rapidly got more intense. We called the midwife a little before 8, and she asked if we thought we were ready to come to the hospital. I said no, that we would wait a little bit. Right after that, though, things really peaked and I was in pretty intense pain as Pat was running around trying to get things together at the last minute. Hospital bags were mostly packed, but we really thought we'd have more warning -- we sort of went from 0 to 60 in no time! At that point I threw up, and I knew we must be getting close, so I told him we needed to go now. Called the midwife again and headed to the hospital. That was the most excruciating car ride ever! We got there at around 8:30, and they checked me and I was at 8-9 cm! I got in the shower for probably 20 minutes and the warm water on my back was really helping, but then my water broke and I started feeling the almost uncontrollable urge to push. They got me out of the shower and onto the bed on my side and I pushed like that for a few contractions until her head came under the bridge, and then I got on all fours and pushed for maybe 2-3 contractions until her head came out. I delivered her almost in child's pose. Pat helped deliver her, and I got to reach through and grab her. Holding her for the first time was the most incredible, surreal experience. I still can't quite believe she is here. She was born at 9:45 -- basically an hour after we got to the hospital!