Birth Story Part 1

Lucy's birth was the greatest day of my whole life. Labor and delivery was so easy I seriously feel like I cheated the system. I was so blessed to have such an easy and actually really fun labor and delivery. There are to many pictures for one post, but here is how it all began...

( Leaving for the hospital at 11:00 p.m. As you can see Todd started out the night looking exhausted. It was test week which always means he is running on no sleep.) 

      Thursday morning I woke up with some signs that labor was probably coming soon, I went to my doctors appointment and everything looked great. They didn't check my dilation or anything because there was some concern my water had broken on Tuesday and they wanted to be on the safe side and not risk the possibility of infection. So, I left the doctors office not knowing where I was at, but getting the vibe that labor was coming soon. So, I went for a mile long walk in the park called my mom and my sisters and crossed my fingers that I was going to get my baby soon. Regular contractions started at 6:00 and they kept getting stronger and stronger. We went to the hospital when they were about 7 minutes apart, they hurt but weren't anything super brutal.

 We went to the OB services to see if I was in true labor or not. Life was grand except for every six minutes when I would have a contraction. We were joking and laughing and were just stoked to be getting started. After changing into this sexy gown, and just hanging out for an hour they told us that my water had broken and asked if I wanted to stay or go home until I was in active labor. We laughed because I thought for sure I was in full blown active labor... nope.

 Within 15 minutes of being on the labor and delivery unit I had an epidural and life was divine. My body was the perfect amount of numb and I had this lovely little button that I could push if I felt any pain. You better believe I used that button every time I even felt a twinge... in my mind there was no reason to feel anything at all... and I really didn't.
 The nurses and midwife were all amazing, our delivery room was massive and I was numb. An hour after I had my epidural I finally got my first "check" of my pregnancy to see my dilation. I was at a 4 and 80% effaced. We decided to start the Pitocin so we could get the party started. And then we did what every actively laboring mom should do...  had a photo shoot!

After playing around being hyper for a while the nurse told us that it would probably be a good idea to try and rest up for what was about to come, it was 4:00 a.m after all.  So, they turned out the lights and we tried to sleep. Todd studied a little bit for his test, my mom curled herself up on the couch and I laid there with my parapalegic legs, a happy heart and a racing mind.We stayed like that for a few hours until it was time to get down to business...