My plan was to try for a natural birth but to be open-minded. I ended up with the epidural and I am the epidural's biggest fan. Being able to relax some made the experience enjoyable and to me more meaningful. 

6 days prior: I went to L&D because I was concerned about decreased fetal movement. Baby was fine (whew!) and exciting news - the monitors showed I was regularly contracting and I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced! They sent me home to labor at home but gave the impression baby was coming soon. (FALSE!)

Day of: after 6 days of "is this it?" Birth really felt like it was coming soon. I took 3 naps and was significantly more uncomfortable than I was prior. I'm having contractions all day but they're nothing unbearable. 

7 pm: we start timing contractions. Still not unbearable but they're definitely becoming regular. 

Midnight: contractions are now every 3 minutes and about a minute long. They're still not uncomfortable but I'm thinking, maybe I'm just a bad ass...we go to the hospital because though I don't think labor has advanced much, I do want to make sure baby is OK and being monitored thru all this hard work. 

1 am ish: in triage at the hospital and hooked up to the monitors. Baby is doing great and contractions are every 2 minutes. I am measured and huge disappointment - I'm still only 1 cm dilated. How can that be the case after nearly a week of labor?! (Y'all. I was walking at least an hour a day and mainling raspberry leaf tea.)

2 am ish: were waiting for the response from the dr on call - I assume they're going to send me home, and I'm fine with that because I want to labor at home as much as possible. Well, they admit me because my contractions are so close. Again a bummer for my natural birth plan  - I've heard all the things about hospitals trying to push you out in X hours so they may pressure you to do a c section, etc. But we were also excited knowing that baby is close!!

So now we're in a L&D room and I'm able to request the wireless monitoring. I go ahead and tell my husband to sleep while he can and I watch netflix. Contractions are too uncomfortable to sleep or lie down, so I watch tv for a few hours with my legs splayed on the edge of the bed. 

Things progress to more and more uncomfortable and I just try to relax as much as possible thru contractions. my husband is rubbing my back thru contractions but he's half asleep still. I can tel his hands are getting tired!

6:30 am - I am so curious as to how far along I am. Because we were obviously a low risk case coming in at 2 cm, i haven't been checked or seen by a dr. The pain is terrible but bearable, but the worst part is that now I'm just exhausted after 12 hours of labor. I'm dozing off between contractions and when they come I'm too tired to effectively cope. We start talking about the epidural - if labor seems close, I'll keep going. If not, let's do the drugs, baby. 

Well I get measured before the nurses' shift change and I'm 4 cm. Yay for progress, boo for not much. I'm told my doctor will come around 8 am and will most likely break my water. At this point, I know I want to do the epidural - but decide to wait for my doctors opinion because I don't want to get it too soon and labor not advance. 

8 am: doctor comes and has no issues about me getting the epidural too soon. Says she can either break my water before or after - I opt for after. The epidural is ordered. 

8:30 am: anesthesiologist comes and does the epidural. All my fears about the giant needle are completely unwarranted - it didn't hurt at all, and they were so mindful to take breaks for contractions. I immediately feel better and (yay!!) SLEEP. after hours of cat-cow, squatting, and all the natural mamma positions, I am so thrilled to be lying flat in bed. 

9 am: the beeping from the baby's monitor has significantly decreased and its heart rate has dropped to 80. I call the nurse trying not to panic. A pair of nurses turns me over to my other side (I can't move myself at this point) and baby's heart rate picks up. Whew!

10 am: Dr comes to break my water. I don't feel the actual pop but feel water gushing onto the bed and I cannot control it at all. I'm laughing because being a woman is just so gross sometimes!! Some scary news - there's menconium in the water but bless my doctor - she's totally calm about it. She explains that a team from the nicu will come down for the delivery to assess the baby for the risks associated with menconium and what those risks are. This has been a big fear of mine the entire pregnancy but today I cannot panic about it - in my mind, I know there's nothing that can be done at this point, so no need to worry. My baby will be assessed by a team of pros. 

10:30 am: I'm checked and I'm at an 8! The nurse says she'll check me in 30 minutes but to call if I start to feel like I'm having a bowel movement. 

11 am: time to push! I request the mirror which I HIGHLY recommend. It's awesome to see your progress as you go. I start practice pushing with the nurse and my husband and it's more difficult than I imagined - with the medication, I have no idea if I'm pushing effectively or not. Well, I must be because after about 15 minutes she tells me to wait for the doctor to arrive. Wait?! NOW I'm feeling the urge to push and trying to hold it in is, well, like trying to hold in a huge poo. 

The doctor arrives with a flurry of activity - scrub tech, NICU team, things are being rearranged in the room. Now, I can push again. I honestly think "holding it" helped, because with just a few more pushes - my baby's head crowning in the mirror as my motivation - the head comes out. The joy I feel is so immense. Just one more push and the whole baby is out - my doctor holds her up and it's a GIRL. (We waited to find out) my husband is crying and says she's the cutest thing she's ever seen. My husband cuts the cord and we're both in awe of the amazing blessing in front of us. She is born at 11:41 am. 

The NICU team has to assess her before we can do skin-to-skin, which I totally welcome - I want to make sure my baby is ok. Hooray, she has no complications from the menconium!! Meanwhile, I deliver the placenta (which I heard could be painful and I didn't feel a thing) and they press on my abdomen to push out extra fluids and blood. (This is grosser than I anticipated - so. Much. Blood.) I have stitches done for first degree perennial and urethral tears. finally, we get skin to skin and I'm in total bliss. 

My little Molly.