On February 17th around noon I noticed contractions. They were just painful enough to stay on my mind which kept me from a much needed nap. Throughout the afternoon they got a little more painful and closer together. By dinner time I knew it had to be something. They were getting hard to breathe through. At 6pm my husband packed up our 4 year old and headed to the hospital. The hospital checked me and I was only 3cm and 70% effaced. I was sent home and told I could go into active labor that night or next week and they couldn’t really tell me what to look for since I was already struggling with contractions and they were 2 minutes apart lasting for a minute.

We went home and the contractions got more and more unbearable. Around 9pm I told my husband to drop me off at the hospital so he and my daughter could try and sleep. But I was sure I had to be in labor. Each contraction almost had me in tears. At the hospital they checked me again and I hadn’t progressed at all. They prescribed me codiene and Tylenol to help me sleep and sent me home again. I took the medicine and it just made me drowsy but didn’t take the edge off the pain at all. My husband and daughter were sleeping soundly while I sat in the tub from about 10pm-1am. At 1am on February 18th (my due date) I woke my husband up again and told him “I can’t do this anymore.” So off we went to the hospital for the third time. He dropped me off and went back home to try and sleep.

I was checked again and I was almost at 5cm and 90% effaced. My water was close to breaking (“bulging”) and my GBS + status made them finally admit me. I asked for my epidural which came around 230am. The anesthesiologist put the epidural in and I noticed only my right foot became numb. My nurse kept telling me it’ll take time. The doctor came in and broke my water and said I was 8cm displayed. I called my husband and told him to get to the hospital quickly. By 3am I wasn’t numb at all and the contractions were so brutal. My nurse finally got the anesthesiologist back in to readjust my epidural.

My husband still hasn’t shown up, and they were ready to get me to start pushing. My OB hasn’t been called at this point, I was progressing to quickly for the hospital to justify them waking him up. At 430 my husband and daughter showed up and we started to push. Two pushes later and Jace Everett Temple was born at 448 am. He weighed 7.11lbs and was 19 inches long.

He completes our family and we couldn’t be happier! Thanks for reading, here are some pictures of our adorable little guy.