The Story

Edit: So I started writing this up the day after Amelia was born, but never found the energy to go back and finish it.  I wanted to make sure to include all the important details since I haven't been writing anything down this time around.  That reminds me, I need to back up my blog again.  Anyway, here it is in case you haven't already heard the story a million times.   
 
The Day Before

On Saturday morning we held our 5th grade car wash to raise money for camp.  Jeff and Marley dropped me off, then went to have lunch and visit some friends, Nate and Kizzie.  I didn't actually wash cars.  Really I just bossed kids around and collected money.  Towards the end, though, I started to feel a bit tired and crampy.  My co-worker, Erica, forced me to sit down and drink a bottle of water.

Jeff picked me up around 1:30 and I told him how I was feeling.  Our plan had been to go to Auburn and take care of some stuff at the car dealership (about 40 minutes from our house, an hour from the hospital).  He asked if I thought we should just go home, but I inisted that I was fine and we should go anyway.  I had back pain and felt a little crampy on and off over the next couple of hours.  Jeff kept asking if I thought I was in labor.  I didn't think so, but I honestly didn't really know.  There were no contractions to time, or anything like that, just a general feeling of discomfort (pretty typical for being 38 weeks pregnant, I felt).

When we got home a couple of hours later, we decided to call Liz and Nai Nai to let them know how I was feeling, just in case this turned into the real deal.  They both arrived in record time:)  Of course, as soon as the phone calls were made, I started feeling much better, and we ended up having a lovely, uneventful evening.  Liz and Chris grilled burgers for us at their house, and Nai Nai decided to stay the night (thankfully!).  I slept great that night, but did notice a little blood when I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  I didn't think much of that, since with Marley it was 10 days between when I lost my mucus plug and when he was born.

The Big Day

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty good, except for a really annoying, lingering cough that Jeff and Marley both had as well.  We had a lazy morning hanging around the house (Jeff even went back to bed for a couple of hours), until we finally decided to walk to the Farmer's Market and get lunch.  We got all dressed and ready and were literally headed out the door with our shoes on when my water broke.

12:00 pm
It was the strangest thing.  I was just standing there when I felt that all too familiar pop, followed by a gush.  I said, "I think my water just broke."  Since I was standing in a puddle, everyone readily agreed. (Major props, by the way, to my amazing mother-in-law, who, among other helpful things such as take care of our first born for two days, cleaned up "the puddle".) We quickly, but calmly got our stuff together, called the on-call OB, and tearfully said goodbye to Marley.

12:30 pm
I was still not having contractions when we got in the car to head to the hospital.  There was a little traffic, but we still got there fairly quickly.  I started having mild, but close-together contractions while we were driving.  They weren't too bad, though, and I was still able to make some phone calls while Jeff drove.

1:00 pm
We parked in the garage and made our way up to Triage (I was still feeling good enough to walk, and didn't even need to stop for contractions), where they would have us fill out some paperwork, check me and baby to make sure all was well, and admit us to Labor and Delivery.  The contractions started to really ramp up once we were in Triage.  I was starting to have a hard time dealing with all the "checking" they were doing AND make it through contractions.  I really wanted to just be left alone so I could deal with contractions, which were rapidly intensifying at this point.  I also really did not want to sit there while they hooked me up to monitors and such.  I had to concentrate and breathe through the contractions at this point.  Jeff eased the intensity by rolling a tennis ball on my lower back.  The nurse began to realize just how quickly things were moving and gave up on the paperwork and decided to send us over to L&D.

1:30 pm
We got settled in our room and met our nurse, Cassie.   I was relieved to be in the delivery room where I could finally labor how I wanted.  I glanced longingly over at the birthing tub, but knew that there wasn't going to be enough time to use it.  Instead I asked for the birthing ball, and sat on that for a few contractions.  Cassie was wonderful - very unobtrusive, and kind of worked around me while I labored.  I lost track of time at this point.  But after not too many contractions on the ball, I felt I needed to stand up.  It seems weird, but that was the only position that I could handle.  The only problem was that I was having trouble standing by myself.  Jeff was great!  He literally supported my whole weight during each contraction, which were just a few seconds apart at this point, and SUPER intense.

It was during this time, which must have been transition, that Jeff claims I "went crazy".  And yeah, I probably did.  This was BY FAR the worst pain I've ever been in.  I truly felt like my body was being ripped apart.  The worst part was that Jeff, who drank too much coffee that morning, left to use the bathroom like ten times.  And Cassie, our nurse, had to put an IV in so that I could get the antibiotics for GBS.   She was pretty quick about it, but I hated having that thing in, and having to hold still for it.

2:00 pm
Suddenly, during one of the contractions (while standing and leaning on Jeff, poor guy)  my body started to push.  I say "my body" because it was completely involuntary, it just happened.  If you've never experienced this, I would compare it to throwing up when you have the flu: Your body just does it, you have no control, and you really, really wish it would stop.  Cassie freaked out a little and leapt into action at this point.  I don't really blame her, she was the only one in the room with us, and probably not interested in delivering a baby by herself.  She tried to get me on the bed, but I didn't want to at first and had another pushing contraction standing up.  She allowed me to remain standing while she checked my cervix.  She told me not to push because I still had a "little bit of cervix left", and at some point called in a doctor.  Because of the whole involuntary pushing thing, not pushing was really not an option, though.  Apparently, my cervix figured it out, and got out of the way in time.  

2:05 pm
I'm just estimating on time here, but I know that when the doctor and resident came in I had just gotten into a half-sitting position on the bed.  The pain was pretty much unbearable at this point, and I was really starting to doubt myself and my ability to push out a baby.  The doctor was really good at refocusing me and reminding me that it was almost over.  She told me that in 3 minutes, I would get to hold my baby.  That really helped me stay motivated through the end. 

2:08 pm
She wasn't lying either.  After maybe three pushes, Amelia Mae Franklin was born.  My super healthy, full-term little girl!  Despite the super-intense-I-think-I'm-going-to-die pain, the drug-free labor and delivery were totally worth it. 

The antibiotics for GBS were kind of a joke, by the way, since I was supposed to have them at least 4 hours before delivering.  They didn't even finish until about 10 minutes after Amelia was born.  But, it got us an extra night in the hospital (48 hours, rather than the standard 24) which I liked.

All in all, it was an incredible experience.  One which I wouldn't even mind doing again.  Oops, did I say that out loud?