No Epidural until 10 cm dilated!! First baby.

Not your typical first delivery story: no epidural until 10cm dilated and only 22 minutes of pushing!

Baby was born in less than 7 hours (from the first morning cramping at 4:45am until she was delivered at 11:22am).

When I was checked by the nurse I was only 2 cm dilated and they were planning for a dinner time delivery. Well.... baby had other plans. Half an hour after being checked my water broke like Niagara Falls.

From there my contractions were intense. An hour after that I was asking for the epidural but I felt like a whimp, thinking I was only 2 cm dilated. They hadn’t checked me again (why would they-first baby and all).

By the time the anesthesiologist got there and did his thing I had so much pressure and HAD to push. When he was done and the doc came in to check me I was at 10 cm dilated. I did all of that naturally. I was basically getting air high fives from all the staff for not losing my shit.

After the blessed epidural I could relax but only for a minute because shortly after it was time to push. 22 minutes later and baby Emmeline was born.

Our “supper baby” showed up before lunch :)