2010_04_28 Wednesday

I woke up this morning at 3am in full-blown labor. Since I wasn't 100% sure what was going on, I waited about an hour before waking David up. I called Oma for advice and for her to get here pronto. I also called Dr Parchment for her advice; she said to meet her at the hospital around 5am. The contractions were 5-6 minutes apart at that point, so it really was time to get a move on. Dave ran Jonathan over to Josh's house at 4:30am (and he accidentally dropped his cell phone in Josh's room). I was hurting by then, but I took a shower and packed my bag, and met Dave in the car. We pulled out, but had to stop at Josh's to find the cell (b/c Dave had to contact work to notify them). I felt like the baby was going to be born in the car. Dave flew through all the stop lights, on my plea.

We got to Overlook Hospital around 5:30am. When they checked me, I was already 5cm dilated and nearly fully effaced, and the contractions were killing me. After they asked if I wanted an epidural, and I emphatically said "YES!", they decided that I couldn't have one because the baby was coming so fast. Shortly thereafter, I was 10cm and fully effaced; this of course, after the nurses told me that I could expect another 5 hours of labor. After pushing for what seemed like an eternity, I realized that she hadn't even crowned yet. That was a tough pill to swallow. But, once she did crown, the rest happened very quickly.

Elise was born at 6:56am au natural. What a divine experience, although not one I'd volunteer to do again, especially without the epidural! David cut her cord. By the time most people were waking up, I was already in the recovery room nursing her and making as many phone calls as I could handle.