Early Arrival!

At my 37 week appointment I was 1 cm dilated and 0% effaced. So you can imagine my surprise when at 37 1/2 weeks I was awakened by contractions. It was Saturday, June 5th at 2:05am. The first contraction hit and and first I thought it was Braxton Hicks. My Braxton Hicks had not been painful so it was unusual but mom said that her Braxton Hicks were painful so it wasn't unheard of. After several painful strikes I could no longer stay in bed, so I began to walk around and try different motions to ease the pain. I decided to repack my hospital bag to ensure I had everything. At 6 am I finally called the hospital and Dr. Strong was on call. She suggested that I take Tylenol and a hot shower or bath. Since my contractions were only 20 minutes apart she did not advise me to come in. She said they needed to be 5 minutes. Dr. Barron had already told me this so I wasn't too surprised at her response. Labor continued throughout the day. Needless to say I didn't go to church. Doug finally woke up around 7am and was surprised to know that I had been awake since 2am. The two of us took a walk around the neighborhood and did some positions on the yoga ball to help me refocus the pain. I also started a chart for Doug to calculate my contractions. We recorded the start and end time, frequency, and duration of each contraction. People call me crazy but how else was I gonna keep up with all that information while I was in pain? Finally at 6pm...yes PM...my contractions were about 5-8 minutes apart. Although there were a few that were 10-13 minutes apart, I figured that was close enough. However, Dr. Barron said they had to be 5 minutes apart for 2 hours. FINALLY at 8pm I called the hospital again. There was a different doctor on call. He said I could come in anytime and he'd be glad to check me. OMG! Why wasn't he on call at 6am. I've always avoided men doctors but now I think I need one. They are so compassionate. His name is Dr. Huggins. So Doug and I packed up and headed for Brookwood Medical. When we got to the hospital I was admitted at 3cm and 100% effaced. We decided I would go natural for as long as I could before requesting an epidural. Once I got to 6cm I decided that I needed some relief. My nurse, Kelly, and Doug were still convinced that I could go without the epidural. I kicked and screamed, literally like a toddler in the candy store, requesting my mom until they went to get her. I felt as if I were begging for drugs. I was snotting and crying all over the place. I did not appreciate being tortured. When my mom came in the room I did not hesitate to tattle on Doug and Kelly. After a little chat I settled for narcotics and decided to see how much longer I could endure the pain. At 7 cm I stopped dilating and again I requested an epidural. Instead I was given a narcotic boost. I got stuck again at 8 cm for about an hour. I had been in labor for 24 hours at this point and I had had enough! Up to this point my membranes still had not ruptured. Kelly wanted to break my water and I refused to let her until I got an epidural. After the epidural my water was broken and I went straight to sleep. I vividly remember telling Doug, "This (epidural) is the best thing ever." Around 4:15 am I was awaken to be checked. I was very drowsy and didn't think I was going to be able to push. Thankfully I didn't have to push for very long. Khalil arrived at 4:36am. He was wide awake. He has always liked the 4 o'clock hour. He laid on my chest looking at me for the entire hour we did skin to skin. It was all so surreal. Doug was in awe and shed a few tears. Mom had to help him snap out of it to cut the cord. If mom wasn't there we wouldn't have any pictures because he couldn't move. I kept tapping him and saying, "Babe take some pictures." It was definitely a different side of him that I've never seen before. The entire labor was definitely a new experience for me. I've decided that for my next child I would walk into the hospital with the word "epidural" taped to my forehead. I will NOT try to go natural ever again. But at least I can say I tried. :-)