Sunday, Oct 25th, 1998, I woke up and sprang out of bed yelling at my husband that the lawn had to be raked. We raked until about 1:00pm, and the whole time I'm having Braxton Hicks and joking that the raking is going to put me in labor. Then we decided to have lunch, and as I'm making tuna sandwiches, I notice that my contractions are becoming regular. So I decided to make a few dinners and freeze them in case this was the real thing. Then I had a bloody show and I called my doctor (midwife), and she told me to wait a few hours to see what happened.
I showered and shaved my legs, and by the time she called back those contractions were getting pretty strong. So she told me to head to the hospital and she'd meet me there. I checked in at 5 or 6pm (it was daylight savings day so we were all confused about the time), and I was 5cm. Then at 1:00am they checked me again and nothing. I had not dialated at all!! Meanwhile I have women all around me screaming and moaning. I told my husband that I thought the maternity ward was haunted!!!
At 2:00am I took something to sleep, and I woke up at 6am 7cm. Then my doctor broke my water and the REAL contractions started. I asked for an epidural and slept some more until around 9am. I woke up, and I felt great. I joked with my husband for a while. Then I had to get on all fours because Julia was sort of stuck in there face down. Luckily, my epidural didn't numb me completely so I felt like pushing when the time came.
15 minutes of the most intense pain I've ever felt in my life and 5 minutes of yelling at my doctor because she was trying to stretch me out with her fingers, a few seconds of terror and a few more wanting to give up, then the realization that this would not be over until I got that baby out.
12:19pm and Julia was born. 8lbs, 16oz and suddenly I was a mom. I stayed in the hospital 2 days and was released on the 28th, (MY BIRTHDAY!!!).
I got the best gift anyone could want.
