So how it all happened... Saturday evening on the way home from the ordination service at the district center I started to notice my contractions were becoming more regular and a bit stronger but after nearly 3 weeks of false labor I was ignoring them and telling myself it was just more false labor. We came home around 8:45pm to find that our well pump had sprung a leak and had soaked a good area of our basement. My mind was a bit preoccupied with that to even concentrate on the contractions. About 11:30 after things with the water mess had called down I decided to tell Tim we better start timing these contractions because they were growing stronger and much more regular but still really not painful. After timing them for over an hour at about 5-6 minutes apart lasting 1 to 1.5 minutes long Tim convinced me to call the after hours line at the hospital and see what they said. I was a bit hesitant because I didn't want to hear "Its just false labor... wait it out". Much to my surprise the on call doctor told me to head to the hospital to be checked out. We packed up and off we went. Keep in mind it is now 2am and Tim and I are both tired from a long weekend with district assembly and everything going on. When we got here I was 2 centimeters and 80% effaced (exactly what I was at my last OB appointment on Thursday). They wanted to monitor the contractions for awhile and thought maybe I would progress since I was contracting so regularly. After two hours of monitoring I had made little to no progress but my contractions were down to 4 minutes apart so the triage doctor did not want to send me home just yet. They sent me walking the hospital for nearly two more hours and then checked me again. At that point I had dilated to 3 centimeters which really didn't seem like much to me. I still was in no pain just simply uncomfortable. I was totally frustrated with being cooped up in this little triage room with an extremely uncomfortable bed and no place for Tim to even try to get remotely comfortable. Suddenly my blood pressure sky rocketed which basically got me an automatic admission to the hospital. After monitoring me for a bit and watching my contractions grow closer together, now 3 minutes apart lasting almost 2 minutes long and my blood pressuring maintaining around 170/85 they decided to send me to Labor and delivery to break my water and get things moving with this baby. I was not sure if I was happy or scared at that point. I wanted to be done but the reality of things really sunk in then. By the time they transported me to Labor and delivery I was 4 centimeter dilated. My doctor broke my water at 10:30am and within in 30 minutes everything started to move along as planned. My blood pressure dropped back down to what is normal for me at 110/60 within minutes of having my water break. My contractions picked up to about every other minute and became more intense but honestly I cannot say they hurt really bad. They were much more uncomfortable than before. Honestly, I remember thinking this labor thing is a piece of cake and I can handle this any day. Tim and I had a discussion about how easy it was and how I would be totally fine with having another baby in no time despite the fact that neither of us really want that. At about 3:30pm I decided to retract that statement because these contractions were actually starting to hurt. They were not unbearable but they hurt. Around 4pm they finally checked me again and said I was nearing 9 centimeters but not quite there yet. I was not only starting to really hurt and feel like I needed to push but the ac in my room had gone out hours before and I was sweating excessively. Tim was at my beck and call feeding me ice chips, water, and packing on the ice cold wash clothes to try to cool me down and keep me calm. About 15 minutes later I told Tim he had to call the doctor back because there was no way I couldn't push with every contraction. They came rushing back to see that I was a full 10 centimeters dilated and it was time to get this baby out. During the last stages of labor, she decided to roll over and instead of having her face toward my back she was looking up toward my stomach which is not ideal for delivery. I had to push for a substantial period of time just to get her to corkscrew back into the right position before I could actually deliver her. I pushed for about an hour total and finally she came. Tim did great the entire time. He managed to support and encourage me the entire time and never passed out. The worst of the whole ordeal was the delivery. I can still say labor was pretty easy right up until the end. I am now fairly sore but not in nearly as much pain as others have warned me I would be.
At one point I thought Tim, the doctors, and nurses were just being nice when they told me I have a pain tolerance unlike most but after some observation I am thinking they may be right. The doctor who delivered Hannah said I was the first in the last 60 births he has delivered to go completely natural. When they asked if I wanted drugs I refused almost every last one would make a comment like they didn't think I would last without them. Tim saw a girl out in the hall who was not nearly as close to delivery crying and moaning in pain while I was in my labor and delivery room breathing through each contraction fairly calmly. The other thing that really has confirmed my pain tolerance is the fact that they wrote me a script for Vicodin to help with pain after delivery. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? VICODIN?!?! Yeah, I will just stick with the 600mg Motrin every 6 hours or so. Not to brag but I am not a wimp... I can handle some discomfort. Nobody promised having babies would be pain free before during or after. Pain or not my perfect little girl makes it all worth while.
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