"It is no small thing, that those who are so fresh from God, love us" -Charles Dickens

I have no idea where to start, I have so many stories and thoughts twirling around in my hormonal head :o) I have decided that I need to write down blogging topics so that I can have fun things to Blog about when I have time. However, as promised, here is my story...

2:30 am Saturday Sept 20

Woke up with my water broken. Simply a slight leak and not wanting to show up at my place of employment where they consider me a professional with my water not broken I waited to be positive. By 3:00 I was contracting every 2-3 min and was certain that I was in labor. I woke Joe up really curious as to how he would react. Waking him was a little difficult (he was up until 1:00 fixing the shower) and when I told him my water broke he just said "OK"! I told him I was getting in the shower and that I would wake him up when I was ready to go.

4:00 showered and contractions getting more painful than cramps, I was actually doing something that resembled a "potty dance" as I got ready. I paged the MD and left a message telling her that I was in labor. The best part about this was that I had just worked a 12 hour shift with her at the hospital the day before and was just a little whiny about being tired and wanting to have the baby early! :o) She called me back and when I answered the phone she simply stated "wishful thinking really works for you girl"

Fun Fact: I can't get a hold of mom on the house phone, cell phone or Dads cell.....I call Kelly and she informs me that they are in Lexington for a board meeting! No worries right? Problem two, Kelly has no idea where they are staying and they have not been in touch at all...cell phones off... no hotel number left in case of EMERGENCY!!!???

4:30 Pulled over by Bellevue Police for speeding on the Avenue!! :o) Joe was a little upset however I simply told him not to worry he would not get a ticket. When we told the police man I was in labor he offered a squad to which I laughed and told him that I was an L&D nurse and I had everything under control just let me leave!!!! He wanted to know what hospital we were headed to and when we told him he said that his wife worked at Good Sam in the ER and if we were lying he would know!!!! First of all sir why would we lie about going 35 in a 25 at 4:30 am and if you wife knows I am at the hospital and tells you about it I will sue her for violating HIPAA!

5:00 Called Kelly when I arrived at the hospital to tell her she could come (she had to be restrained so as to not beat me to the hospital). She has in the mean time called every hotel in Lex looking for Mom! :o) However had not found them... she did however find a piece of paper with a confirmation # on it and called them all back using it and found them!

I was admitted and in triage, hooked up to the monitor my contractions are indeed every 2 min, and now much stronger. I knew this but its nice to see that the computer agrees with me. I am 4-5 cm and the nurse starts my IV.

6:00 In my room getting the terrible, horrible, worst thing in the entire world...Epidural!!! I would hate them except they make life so much easier. I would not EVER go natural because something tells me that if I didnt like the 5 min Epi process that I wouldnt do well with the 8 hour labor process. However, I freaked out during my Epi. I cried like a baby, I hated the feeling of it! However it took away the pain...so whatever.

7:00 6cm hanging out in bed with tingly legs from the epidural.

Story Kelly told me: she was so excited about coming to the hospital that when she finally got a hold of mom on the phone she jumped in the car and started off to the hosp. and lost connection with mom when she realized she was driving down the road trying to talk on the cordless house phone and not her cell phone!!!

11:00 10 cm 100% effaced and time to start pushing. Now being a L&D nurse I know how this first time pushing can go, I have done it with many of my patients, anywhere from 10 min to 3 hours long, most often at least an hour. I was very nervous about this, I had no idea how I was going to push for 3 hours!! However with my first push my moms face lit up and Joe mentioned something about seeing the head! I couldn't believe how blessed I was, this was not going to take long at all!

In the end I pushed for about 3o min! Joe was an amazing help when I was pushing, he was so intense. I benefited from his excellent coaching skills, I am not really the go get 'em, push yourself hard type, and I really felt myself drawing from his intensity.

11:39 She came out beautifully blue and limp and not really breathing..... she needed just a little help, I wasn't worried though, my RN friends are excellent and she was up and running in no time :o)

I can't believe how blessed I am to have had such an easy labor and so far on day 4 things are going fairly well. When things are hard (breastfeeding) I just have to look at my little girl and I am so in love with her that it is all worth it.