Huey Lawrence

Started out with cramps around midnight. They were consistent but there wasn't a start or stop so I wasn't sure if they were contractions. After an hour they started to have more of a wave to them and the contractions started to feel more distinct. My husband started timing them, and after an hour they were starting to get more intense. We decided to go to the hospital around 2:45 am. As they were checking me in and deciding if they should admit me, my water broke. I was about 3 cm dialated. Once I got to my room the contractions were more intense. I was having a hard time dealing with the contractions because my pain was still about a 4 in between, jumping up to a 6 or 7 at the peak of the contraction. I got some IV pain meds which helped for a little while. I was trying to put off an epidural because I heard that if you get one too early in labor it can stall things. The nurses advised me that the baby would get here no matter what and if I wanted to be more comfortable it was a good time to do the epidural. The epidural was a miracle drug for me. I could still feel the contractions but they were so much more bearable and I was able to sleep in between. I was in an out of sleep and contractions until about 1 pm the next day. I was fully dialated but my cervix wasn't all the way out of the way yet. There was another patient ready to start pushing so my doctor went to help her deliver and I waited hoping my cervix would full disappear so I could start pushing. My contractions were more like pressure around my anus; it was really different from the earlier contractions probably due to the epidural numbing me. I was having constant pressure and I felt the urge to push but I was waiting on my doctor to finish up. Once she came back and I could start pushing I felt really motivated and in the zone. After just over an hour of pushing the baby came at 3:05 pm. 12 hours of labor total. Pushing felt natural to me and I had no problem knowing what my body needed to do. The nurses coached me to "crunch" and push like I needed to poop. Doing yoga my whole pregancy made crunching and getting my legs up and out during each push easier.