Labor and Delivery

Ok for those of you who want to know..... here is the whole labor and delivery story...

The very beginning:
Marco and I woke up kind of early Monday morning (7ish...) Marco plays paintball every few weeks with some guys across the street. He took off and around 8am my mucus plug came out. I went upstairs and was chatting with my mom about the whole thing. I didn't freak out or anything, there was a girl in my birth class whose plug came out a month before her due date and her baby wasn't born until a few days after her due date. I was having contractions but it wasn't anything spectacular. Mom and Dad made breakfast (thank you!!).

Side Note:
Ok, so this was Labor Day weekend.... and we made plans as a family to take the weekend off and take care of things.... our lives have been pretty hectic lately and we haven't been getting all the things that we wanted to get done done.... so we worked on getting things done. Marco and my dad put in the last window on Saturday, they finished off the door from the carport to the chicken coop. Set up the bed and armoire downstairs (they're so pretty ) Mom cleaned out the garden boxes that we weren't using anymore, Mom and Dad worked on the garage (cause goodness knows that needed help!!) We all had huge lists of things that we wanted to get done. One of the things on my list was finish this quilt I've been working on since earlier this year. It's going to be really cool, when it's done I'll post a pic. Mom and I worked on it really hard and got it over 1/2 finished by Sunday evening.

During the Day:
So Monday after breakfast I continued working on my quilt. Contractions kept coming and when I thought they were getting a little more regular I timed them and they were about 7 minutes apart and lasted between 30 and 45 seconds. Still nothing spectacular. So I just kept on working away. Marco got home from paintball around 12:30, I filled him in on the whole contraction thing. My Dad had finished the drywall stuff around the window so Marco painted the last wall in Maria's area (woo hoo!!) We had lunch and I finally took a shower. Marco and I headed to the Mall around 3. We did a little shopping, but it was really annoying having to stop walking every couple of minutes.... cause that whole walking/having a contraction at the same time thing doesn't work too well. (neither does laughing (or sneezing)/having a contraction) So we went home, got there 5 ish... Marco gave me a wonderful massage with the thumper. So nice. Mom and Dad got home from a bike ride and Mom made spaghetti for dinner. Marco and I went upstairs.... Mom wanted to teach me how to breathe. My birthing class was good, but it wasn't great. We learned a bunch of stuff, but breathing wasn't one of them. So they walked us thru a few different things and my dad timed my contractions.... they were down to 5 minutes apart and between 1 and 1 1/2 minutes long. So we had some dinner and then went for a walk down to the road and back. When we got back the contractions were down to about 3 minutes apart. So we decided to make that trip to the hospital.

At the Hospital:
We got to the hospital at 8:23pm. We got checked in... they got me strapped to one of the little machines that monitor the baby's heart rate and my contractions.... I was probably in there for 1/2 hour or so. They checked my cervix and I was a solid 3 and about 95% effaced. They ask on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad the pain is.... everything is so relative. I gave the pain at the top of the contraction a 9, because things can always get worse.... it's amazing how a 9 can change. They decided that things looked favorable so they decided to admit me and moved me to one of the Labor rooms. When we got there I said that I'd probably like an epidural, they explained that they'd have to ask a bunch of questions and get some blood work done. So they got me situated and got started on that. Got an IV in me and we just kept working thru the contractions. Things started getting more intense, definitely a worse 9 than before. Marco was SO great. He held my hand & let me squeeze as hard as I wanted to. They gave me a drug that was supposed to take the edge off the contractions... about 2 minutes after they gave me the drug I started feeling REALLY good. So relaxed..... but that didn't last long... less than 10 minutes later I'm REALLY wanting that epidural. Wow the pain was getting intense. They got the anesthesiologist in there and he began to ask me questions and get everything prepped. I rolled onto my side and during the whole administration of the epidural i had 2 contractions. Both of which I had the urge to push... they told me to breathe thru it.... i tried, but when you gotta push, you gotta push. So there is definitely stuff going on down there.... I could feel her coming...
When they started the epidural process they called 2 more nurses and the doctor in. So they were getting prepped for things in the room. The 2 nurses that were helping the anesthesiologist and Marco got me rolled onto my back. The anesthesiologist started giving me the medicine and another contraction started. I had to push again (I don't think that once you start having the urge to push during a contraction that it stops) and out flew Maria (10:55 pm). The doctor hurried and put on his gloves the Nurses ran over picked her up and started cleaning her off... Marco cut the cord, the doc delivered the placenta.... and it's really all kind of blurry from there on out... Maria and I had a little skin to skin time (she was a little cold because she peed) The doc stitched me up (I had one tiny tear, and another not so tiny tear... not big, but not as tiny as the first).

So.... Started at 8ish am. Checked into the hospital at 8:30 pm. Maria born at 10:55 pm.