I went to see Dr. Rost on Thursday. He checked my progress and found me to be dilated to a 3. I figured that would put me on track to be about 5 cm dilated by my induction date the following Weds, which is what I was with Julia. I had lost most of my mucous plug the week before, but I noticed some blood tinged mucous when I was collecting my urine sample, so I thought maybe I still might have a chance of having her before my induction date. Friday was a busy day. I made a few casseroles to freeze, cleaned quite a bit and did some laundry. Saturday Mike took the kids to their soccer games, and I took Emily to a birthday party. I wasn't feeling all that great. I felt uncomfortable, but I chalked it up to being dilated and walking around a lot. Mike and I went out to dinner at Chili's with a gift card my friend Amy Murdock gave me for my baby shower. By the time we got home I was exhausted and I laid down for a nap and ended up sleeping for an hour. I had a few hard contractions- but they were totally random. Sometimes one an hour, sometimes 2 in 15 minutes. It was confusing. Sunday when I woke up I didn't think I was going to be able to get to church. Walking had become difficult- it felt like I had a volleyball between my legs. But within an hour of waking up I felt a little better and got ready to go to church. I was fine for Sacrament meeting- I even sang with the choir for ward conference- but after Sunday school my back was really hurting so I went home. I got the lasagna on the table, made garlic bread and salad and set the table. By the time we were done with dinner, I was exhausted and took a 2 hour nap. I woke up at 7:45, got up and had ice cream with the kids. I sorted socks and went to back to bed at 9. The only way to describe how I felt is "not good". I woke up at 1:30 am to a very uncomfortable feeling in my abdomen and back. It wasn't a contraction- more like cramping/indigestion. I felt that way pretty solidly for about 20 minutes. I finally sat up and woke up Mike and told him that we probably needed to head to the hospital. I knew something was going on, even though it wasn't presenting like typical labor. I went to the bathroom, and took a five minute shower. During my shower, I had my first "traditional" feeling contraction, and it was hard and very much a real labor contraction without a doubt. They came about 3 minutes apart from then on, and I knew we were on a pretty tight time clock now to get me to the hospital. I toyed with the thought of calling an ambulance, but I really didn't want some random paramedic delivering my baby- I'd rather Mike and I handle it if we got to that point. We got in the car and when I sat down I felt her move down into the birth canal and I knew we had to go fast. I told Mike not to stop at any red lights! He was in a bit of shock about the whole thing I think. I called Dr. Rost's answering service and left a message that we were on our way to the hospital with contractions 3 minutes apart. We pulled into the Baylor emergency room parking lot at about 2:45, and Mike ran in got a wheelchair for me, because I wasn't sure I could walk anywhere. I told the people at the front desk that I was having a baby and that I might deliver right there on the ER floor if we didn't get to labor and delivery pretty quick. I'm sure they took that with a grain of salt, until I mentioned it was my 8th baby and then people started moving a little faster. I had the chattiest guy pushing my wheelchair so I got to go through transition while making small talk about his three year old. It felt a little surreal. By the time we got to the L&D floor I knew I was really close. I had one super contraction holding onto the edge of the bed, and then got into bed so the nurse could check me. I was a NINE! My first two thoughts were- "Great! I'm almost done!" and then "Dang it! I have to finish this without an epidural!" So I went through about 5-10 minutes of that "out of control/can't imagine how you are going to finish this/can't someone just shoot me" phase between that comes between 9-10 centimeters and then Dr. Rost said to give a little push, which broke my water. One big push and there was her head, and then one more for the rest of her and we were done! I was shaking so badly- I really think I was a little bit in shock of how fast this had gone. She was born at 3:07, nineteen minutes after we got there. This was the labor I had actually prayed for- a quick, fast one like Rebekah's. I just got a little more than I bargained for! This is the labor I would chose every time if I was brave enough, but I don't think I could be that brave every time. You do what you have to do when the circumstances call for it, but I don't know if I would volunteer for a natural delivery ever again!
