We're off to the hospital...

I wasn't having painful contractions, and even though I felt we needed to go to the hospital, we took our time getting there. We got chicken soft tacos from Del Taco since they don't let you eat or drink once you get there (which is dumb) and just overall enjoyed the excitement of knowing our baby will be here soon.

At the hospital they did a swab to make sure my water had actually broken and then admitted me. I was dilated to 4cm and 75% effaced. Since I wasn't having contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart she said my doctor would probably put me on Pitocin and wanted to put the IV in. Well, my doctor is awesome and listens to me, so I told her I didn't want the Pitocin or the IV until we've given my body A CHANCE to progress on it's own. She said she couldn't promise anything and would talk to my doctor (who wasn't on call for the weekend but gave me permission to have them call him anyways, thank you Dr. Groom!). He agreed with my orders LOL so I was able to sleep as much as I could that night and then have them augment my labor in the morning if I needed it.

By morning I was dilated to 5 ½ almost 6cm, which isn't much progression for 12 hours of labor. I maybe could have waited some more but I did want to have my baby and get out of there :) So I agreed to the Pitocin but told them I didn't want an epidural until the contractions were too painful.

Side note: The nurse that checked me in was a little impersonal, if that's a word, and kinda gruff. Thank goodness she wasn't the one who was assigned to me once I was admitted. In the middle of the night she did have to come in and turn off a random alarm that was going off and had the nerve to say, “You haven't delivered yet.” kinda snarky. What!? It's not a race lady!

So, they start the Pitocin at 8am and my labor was uneventful until about 12. By this time I was only dilated to 7cm and having contractions 3-5 minutes apart. I had a lovely nurse, I wish I remembered her name, and she said that my cervix was completely flat but she felt the baby was still really high. She thought maybe it was because she was facing my hip instead of my tail-bone so she had me lay on my side. In this position it seemed like the contractions were more intense (probably because they were causing the baby to move down applying more pressure on my cervix). My nurse had had a baby without and epidural before so she said that I had to tell her when I felt more pressure because we need to call my doctor to get there before I had the urge to push.

Unfortunately it all happened so fast and I had to WAIT for my doctor to get there. Once I'd gotten tired of laboring on my side I sat up and felt a gush of fluid. I was very surprised at how much fluid had rushed out but my nurse was very calm telling me it was normal. Until the next contraction started and it was VERY different. I could feel the baby's head VERY low and felt the urge to push! My nurse checked my cervix and ran out to call my doctor. We all had a chuckle about that. She didn't even tell me what my dilation was until she came back :)

At this point I'm dilated to 9cm and the baby's head it "a lot lower" according to the nurse. The contractions are much more intense and I'm having to fight the urge to push. Looking back I'm sure it was all very comical, like the movies. I was having to do that "hee, hee, hee" breathing technique to get through them. I think if my doctor had been there I would have delivered right then. It took him 15 or 20 minutes to get there so I had to breath through several painful contractions. I could see the clock and after 15 minutes I told Jeff, "Dr. Groom has one more contraction to get here." I was done waiting.

As soon as he walked in the door I could help but cheer! He even said, "you're still smiling!?" since he knew I didn't have any pain meds LOL. Anyways, they laid me back and put my legs in the stirrups as he's putting on his gown and gloves. As soon as a contraction started I could tell there was NO POSSIBLE WAY to breathe through it in this position. Even though the nurses were telling me to breath and let him get his gloves on it was impossible. So, even though I'm not really pushing, the contraction pushes baby Whitney out!! Dr. Groom had one glove on and had to pull the sleeve of his gown over the other to catch her!!

They put her on my chest and I can't help but say, "she looks so little!". Her newness was just amazing and adorable. The nurses assured me she was a good sized baby :) And took her to clean her up and weigh her.

Overall it was a wonderful experience. I don't agree with a lot of modern obstetrical practices, most of my friends and home births for this reason, but overall I felt like my doctor listened to me and let me decide, which I greatly appreciate.

I still don't feel like I can say I had a natural labor since I choose to have it augmented with Pitocin. In the end though I'm glad I was able to have this experience and would do it again if I ever get pregnant again. Only I'd call my doctor MUCH earlier, ha ha. He can wait for me to be fully dilated much easier than I can wait for him once I am!