D is 5 (and a reading from the birth story book)

Five years ago I had a baby. My first; a boy. On a Sunday like today T and I were driving the hour away to our hometown to visit our parents. My dad and sister have birthdays on the seventh and eighth so we were all getting together to celebrate on the Sunday before their birthdays. and here is a chapter out of my birth story book.

(noonish nov 5, 2006)
First we arrived at Opa's house where the party was. I ate a lot of lasagna that my mom made (the best). Afterwards I sat on the couch and my stomach would tighten up... I thought it was just braxton hicks contractions. The first ones I had felt. I wasn't really worried. Everyone else started taking bets about how much this baby would weigh and what day he would be born.
(4-6ish pm)
I kept feeling those contractions but they were 20 or more minutes apart and they didn't hurt so we left the party and went to visit T's parents. While we were there I had some more contractions (still thought they were braxton hicks so I wasn't worrying). His mom started getting so excited that I was feeling them. And I remember T putting his hand on my stomach and saying how hard my belly felt while I was having a contraction. It was rock hard. I still didn't have any pain and I figured it was just from stuffing my face at lunch. I wasn't due until the 16th so I thought these were just practice contractions that I was supposed to have been experiencing. We told his parents if anything happened we would call them (of course!) and headed out to eat with some friends that lived in town.

(630ish)
We ate at Chili's. I ordered the cajun chicken pasta. (yeah, more pasta... I know) The couple we were having dinner with had their 4 month old daughter with them. While we were eating, the contractions I was having (and thinking not much of) started getting more intense (but not painful). Our friend was trying to convince us that I was in the early stages of labor (she did just have a baby) and that maybe we should go to the hospital on our way home just to be sure and get checked. Halfway through dinner I had most of my pasta left because I had to keep pausing during these contractions to breathe. At that point our friends were telling us to leave so we threw $20 on the table and said goodbye. We called our parents to let them all know I was just going to get checked at the hospital and that it was probably nothing and I would be sent home.

(730-830ish)
On the hour long drive back to the city my "contractions" eased up and I almost convinced T to just go straight home. We decided that the worst that could happen is that I'd be sent away and laughed at because it was my first pregnancy and those first timers overreact.
 (830/9pm ish)
We pulled into the hospital and didn't know where to go (because I didn't sign up for a hospital tour and thought there would be signs leading the way). I was wrong. I had to pee really really bad because I had downed like a gallon of tea during dinner and I walked into the wrong building altogether just to find a restroom. There was a janitor mopping the floor and he tried to tell us we couldn't use the restroom but I walked right by him and used it anyhow. I mean, I was pretty close to peeing all over myself at that point. We finally found our way to the main building (it's confusing in the dark, okay?) and got in an elevator and searched the directory for labor and delivery. Luckily there was a L&D nurse in there and asked if that's where we were going (it was the 3rd floor). She showed us where to go to be admitted and when I walked up to the station and told them I thought I was labor the nurse looked at me really skeptically and she asked, "Are you really pregnant?" (I guess I was looking real good? or that I had a morbidly obese beer gut? Do non preggos usually show up and ask to be admitted for labor and delivery???) She actually got up from the desk to look at my belly... awkward.... They found me a room and hooked me up to a moniter and asked me to pee in a cup and get in a gown. (great, I just emptied my bladder, remember?) So, somehow I managed to produce some urine for them (always great details with birth stories, right?) The nurse came in checked me (at my last doctors appointment I was 3cm dilated already) and said I was 2 1/2 cm (um... I'll go with 3, thanks) and when she pulled back some fluid (ugh, can I skip this?) came out. She asked me if my water just broke and I said, "I don't know?" I was pretty sure I didn't pee on her and we thought okay it's just that gel she used... she decided to do a fluid test strip thing and she'd be "right back". T and sat (well, I lied there) and we convinced ourselves it was just the gel and they were going to send us home. After about 10-15 minutes of waiting we started thinking maybe my water had broken and they were admitting me....

930/10pm
The nurse walks back in with another nurse and says, "okay, that was your water so you're staying!" And I grinned at T but inside I was feeling more like oh shoot! this is really happening. Right now. I am so unprepared!! We called our parents and in true first timer fashion they all showed up and were expecting to see a baby within an hour or two... hahaha. The nurse hooked me up to pitocin since I was progressing too slow for them and some IV pain med... before I got my epidural. At this point some of our friends were present and our families and I know that medicine really messed me up. I guess I was kind of out of it... I remember everyone laughing at me and saying "she won't remember any of this" and "we should record this". I do remember saying I needed to lick something.... very odd and everyone started laughing and I think right then the medicine really knocked me out. I woke up later... don't know when and I could really feel the contractions and I got my epidural. I was scared but the anesthesiologist did a great job with it. It made me shakey and nauseous but the nurse said it was normal and to lay on my side. It wore off (the nausea, not the epidural) and my family left around midnight because they had work and school in the morning.

(Monday, nov 6)
I pretty much slept through a lot of contractions due to the awesome medicine that made me loopy...I woke up sometime in the morning and T was sitting in chair next to my bed and looked exhausted. I felt bad for him since he didn't get to sleep much. Around 930am I was at 10cm and we did some practice pushes (and I was wondering where my doctor was). T said he saw the head (!!!!) and then the nurse said to stop and she would get the doctor and it was time to have a baby...

My doc came in along with a whole crew of nurses and cart and everything (I saw a lot of shiny sharp looking objects and was not excited about that) but I started pushing and with in a couple of pushes the head was out (the hardest part, right?) I remember that was such a relief and I was almost done which was really encouraging/exciting.  (also my water pretty much gushed all over the nurses and my doc dodged out of the way of it... I know details...) One more good push and we had a perfect little boy! My doc said he scored almost perfect on the apgar scale and he had never seen that before.

Nov 6, 2006: Big D 6lbs 15oz 10:24am

And now he is five.

This morning he told me he had the best birthday ever and it was perfect. (made me a little happy)
Happy birthday to my favorite five year old.