3.5 hour labor!

At my 37w appt, I was dialated to 1cm and was already 90% effaced.  We were excited because the doctor told us that the effacement was the important part for a first pregnancy, as that?s the first step to look for progress.

Scott and I walked, ate spicy food, and did other stuff that is supposed to induce labor, but I got no response. I ate a whole pineapple in two days (Sunday/Monday) then Tuesday morning, I was feeling contractions that seemed real, with a backache and cramping. At the 38w appt on Tuesday, I was 1-2cm and 95% effaced. I was disappointed because we?d tried so hard to help things along!

We tried spicy food, walking (lots of walking!!), and other stuff the rest of the week. No response and I was getting down. I was still having tons of BH ctx and it was so frustrating. Saturday (38w5d), we tried everything all in one day, including another ? a pineapple. Sunday morning, I woke up at 2:47 to go to the bathroom. I realized when I got back in bed that my back was hurting, so I adjusted my pillows and dozed back off. I woke up a few minutes and sat straight up, my back was throbbing! That?s when I realized that I was having a real contraction. I sat there a minute, it went away, I waited for another, but it didn?t come. So I laid back down and dozed back off again. Suddenly another one woke me up and I sat straight back up. Scott woke up, and I told him I was having real contractions and that they were hurting. We were excited! I started to roll back over and felt a little gush. I jumped out of bed to run to the bathroom. I told Scott that I thought my water broke, and he just asked me if I was serious! So I sat on the toilet and there was a steady trickle that I couldn?t control. All of a sudden, the ctx were coming fast and strong! Scott got up and was getting everything together to leave. It took me 30 minutes to get to the car; the ctx were coming every 2-3 minutes, lasting 1-1.5 minutes, and I could NOT move during the ctx. They hurt so bad!

We got to the hospital at 4:12, got to L&D at 4:15, and I got checked at 4:30. I was 6-7cm! All I could say was that I NEEDED the epidural! I didn?t want to miss the window to get it! Unfortunately, they had to talk to the doc, run the bloodwork, get some info from me, get me to sign papers, and other stuff. All between ctx! They were getting stronger and stronger, and Scott says I was apologizing to the nurses, telling them that I was not trying to be mean but that I wanted the epi ASAP!

The anesthesiologist came in about 5:15, and it took 4-5 ctx to get the epi in place. Then another 3-4 ctx for it to take effect. They checked me at 5:45 (when I was finally not clawing people and the bed!) and said that I was at 9.5cm! I couldn?t believe it! She was still a 1-station, so they let me relax (I sent a bunch of emails and texts!) until 6:30. I did a few practice pushes with the nurse, and she called the doctor in about 6:45. I pushed through a few more contractions, felt her head around 7:00, and Charlotte Elizabeth was born at 7:09am, just over 3.5 hours after my water broke! Scott was there for the whole thing and just kept telling me later how it was the most amazing thing he?d ever seen. Charlotte was 7lbs, 3.3oz, and 20.5in long. She came out screaming, head full of blonde hair. She has quickly become the light of our lives, even at 3am!