OK, I finally decided to write this. My labor started on Monday, November 14th, 2016. It was in the morning, and it was just sort of crampy. Nothing I couldn't deal with. I was in school at the time as a TA, so I texted my teacher that I was not going to be able to come in like I had planned. I spent the rest of the day just relaxing, drinking water, and watching TV. 7 o'clock rolled around, which is when my husband gets off of work, and the contractions started to get closer and closer.

I started timing them, and they were somewhere around 15 minutes apart. My husband got home from work, and we decided we were hungry, so we went to Denny's for dinner. So, here I was in the middle of Denny's, having contractions, trying to eat nachos. LOL. 

We tried to lay down and go to bed around 1030, but the contractions kind of kept me awake. Eventually, the contractions were so strong, that I knew I was not going to be able to sleep. So, I went into the family room and decided to watch some TV. I made myself a cup of tea, and sat down in the kitchen, Still timing my contractions. 4 o'clock in the morning rolls around and they were finally five minutes apart. I woke my husband up, told him to get the bags, and that we needed to leave as soon as possible. We left and drove the 30 minute drive to the hospital. which ended up more like 20 minutes because my husband was so nervous and excited. 

It was about 4:45 AM at this point. I walked into the lobby with my husband and started having a contraction in the middle of the lobby. The security guard was very concerned and I just laughed at him because he had no idea how bad my back hurt .

Anyways, I make it up to labor and delivery and they put me in a triage room. The nurse goes to check and see how dilated I am, warning me that it is common to get sent home if I'm not dilated enough. She puts her hand up there, and widens her eyes and just says "oh!" I was dilated to five!!! 

They put me in a delivery room, and I started to get excited. I got my epidural right away, which was easy. It didn't hurt very much. It did take them three tries to get an IV started on me, which DID hurt. 

** here's where things start getting interesting.

It's about 630 at this point, and my contractions are progressing decently. I asked one of the nurses how soon the baby was going to be here. she said I would probably have the baby no later than 1 o'clock. I felt pretty good since the epidural was working really well. I was also strep B positive, so they started pushing the antibiotics through me. I was not worried, because everything else seem to be good at my last few doctors appointments, other than a small risk for breathing issues when he came out due to a medicine I was on. 1 o'clock rolls around, and they haven't really asked me to push. 

The baby's heart rate starts the dip a little, and my contractions seem to be getting further and further apart. They pushed pit, which was fine. I was kind of expecting it since my mom and my sister needed it to have their babies. 3 o'clock rolls around, and the doctor finally comes and checks on me. The doctor and the nurse do a pelvic check. They both seem to look at each other and nod. Which had me worried. I asked what was wrong and they said that the baby was facing upwards. So, at least the baby wasn't breech, but he was facing the wrong way. They explained that some people can still have the baby vaginally, but some people have to have a C-section. 

They also explained that his head was really big. So big, that my water had broken but his head had corked it in there so much that it didn't actually flow out. There was meconium in the fluid too. So now starting to actually get worried. 

All of a sudden, things started to happen quickly. They started having me push around 3:30. After an hour of pushing, they tried rolling me around in different ways and having me push in different positions. I was so exhausted. He just wasn't coming out. They gave me about 20 minutes to rest, but then I had to push again. The baby's heart rate started to dip again. They then had me curl into a c shape while pulling on as sheet that my husband was holding onto. So basically, I was playing tug-of-war with my husband, straining because I'm in labor, and I had my mother-in-law holding one leg and a nurse holding the other. I don't know how I didn't poop myself. 

...He still wasn't coming down any more than he had come down at the last pelvic. 

The doctor looked at me and told me that I had one more chance to push as hard as I could, and if he didn't come out, then we had to reevaluate. As a last resort, I asked her to try the forceps in order to avoid a C-section. I felt like things were out of my hands. I was so worried. But at the same time, I was calm because I knew that I needed to do whatever it took to get this baby out and healthy. 

I tried pushing while she used the forceps, but it didn't work. 

All of the sudden, super bright lights flipped on in the room and about 10 people swarmed around my bed. I was going to have to have a C-section. I signed some papers, ended up completely naked in my bed, and threw up because I was nervous. Within five minutes, I was being rolled out of my room, my husband dressed in scrubs in tow. We got to the operating room, and the anesthesiologist started talking me through all of the medicines he was going to give me. He was so nice and gentle. I'm convinced that he is the only reason I made it through that surgery without full-on freaking out. 

Suddenly, I started shaking like a leaf. It was so weird. It was like I was shivering but I wasn't cold. It was a reaction to the medicines that they gave me, and apparently it was common. This whole time, my husband was watching them filet me open like a fish. We started the surgery at 6:02 PM. At 6:07 PM, our baby boy was born. I started crying as soon as I heard his first wail. I had never felt so relieved in all of my life. He was healthy, weighed 7lbs 12 oz, and of course, had a massive head. My husband, a bigger guy, kept joking around that us having a baby was like breeding a Clydesdale with a Shetland pony. 

My husband actually got to hold our baby first. I was too afraid that I would drop him because I was still shaking. It felt like forever until I finally had him in my arms. 

So, after 23 hours of labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing, I ended up having an emergency C-section. And I do it all over again if I had to. I love our little Maximus.