Here's my birth story. I tried not to be too gory or graphic. I also apologize in advance for my grammatical errors...it's 4am and I've only dozed on and off tonight.

Enjoy!

Feb 28th-Go to my OB appointment and told I'm 3cm dialated.

March 1st:

1am- Wake up to go to the bathroom, but there was a new ache that I was experiencing. I also felt a little trickle when I sat up. I waited another 20 minutes to be sure, to make sure that I was having real contractions.

1:20- Wake up Michael. He was a bit out of it when I told him that we had to go to the hospital. He asks if he has time to take a shower and I say yes, as the pain is manageable.

1:40- We leave for the hospital, which is less than 15 minutes away. We hadn't been there before, but it was easy to find the entrance. The contractions were getting steadily stronger at this point, so when Michael drove into the parking lot, I got out immediately and walked to the entrance; I just couldn't sit in the car anymore. I had never registered there before, so we took maybe 10-15 minutes to get all of our personal information.

2am-ish- we went to Prenatal Triage to see if this was the 'real deal'. I was checked and found to be 5cm dialated, but my water hadn't broken yet. They decided to send me to the delivery room after monitoring the baby's heartbeat and my contractions for a while.

(This is where I start to lose track of time...)

The hospital was really crowded in the regular delivery room, so I was in the high-risk delivery room. ( I was told this later). I was hooked up to monitors, but because I was really uncomfortable on my back, I was lying on my side. Turns out that it made it harder to tell how much stronger my contractions were getting. I told the nurses that I didn't want an epidural, because I was nervous about anything getting near my spinal cord!

3:30- I wuss out because the contractions were getting too unbearable and ask for the epidural. I don't remember the exact pain, but I do remember hanging onto the side railings and shaking it back and forth like I wanted to break it off! The nurse came over at that point and walked me through the contractions while Michael applied counter-pressure to my hip bone to relieve the pain.

3:40- I was told that the anesthesiologist will arrive at 4am, and the epidural will kick in at about 4:20am. When I'm guided through the contractions at this point, I'm asked to think about my happy place. I look at the epidural medicine and imagine it relieving my pain!!!

3:50- The nurse advises me that I will feel like I want to have a bowel movement when the baby is ready to come out. She also checks and tells me that I'm 9cm dialated. She starts to move faster now, getting things ready that the doctor will need for the delivery.

3:55-This time, I feel the baby move down and I start shouting, "I have to poo! I have to poo!". The nurse tells me to wait for the doctor to show up, but the contractions don't let up, so I start shrieking, "The baby's coming! The baby's coming!" My body starts to push automatically.

4:00-The doctor, 3 nurses(I think) and the anesthesiologist magically appear out of nowhere. The anesthesiologist immediately apologises for not getting there sooner and I forgave him. I am moved onto my back and start screaming. The nurses tell me to shut up and put my energy into pushing. It would have been funny if I wasn't in so much pain. I decide to listen to them and immediately the contraction-feeling goes away. It felt so nice! At that point I was a good girl and followed their directions. When the baby started to crown, I was asked if I wanted to feel its head. I remember saying/shouting "No", because all I wanted to do was to get-it-out-right-now.
4:07am - After maybe 4-5 more contractions, the baby came out and I found out I had a girl!