Labor and delivery with #3

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Here it is. D-day. I started having contractions around 4pm, but nothing too serious or close together. Being 37wks and 5days, i knew there was a possibility it could be real labor, but even as a woman who has had 2early babies, I still felt that I had time. And besides, we had company (the Francia's) coming over for dinner. Well, the contractions got a lot more regular and more intense over the next few hours.

They were kind enough to bring dinner with them, all I had to do was dessert. They brought our favorite, Little Thai Kitchen. It was so delicious! However, looking back, I knew it was a bad idea to FILL up on thai food when I knew pretty well I was headed into heavy labor. I was able to conceal my contractions for the most part, just discreetly jotting them down and timing them. But as the night went on, josh and Colleen could tell something was up. Around 8:30, Josh eventually blurted out "how close are your contractions?" When I replied with "every 4mins or so" they promptly told me to go to the hospital. 

Luckily my good friend and visiting teacher Ashley rushed right over. She came in record time with an overnight bag in tow. I actually hadn't even fully packed my hospital bag yet, I wasn't prepared for the baby to come this early. 

So off to the hospital we went. Checked in around 9:30, and early on in the pregnancy I made the decision to have an epidural this time around. Luckily, as soon as we got checked in, IV placed, I was dilated enough to get the epidural. Braden and I actually semi-enjoyed our night, if you can ever say that about labor. We watched 24 and anxiously awaited the arrival of our newest addition. 

 The epidural did start to slow down my contractions shortly after they broke my water, so I was placed on pitocin around midnight to get things moving again. 

Well it worked, around 3 they actually turned down my dosage of pitocin because my contractions were too close together. Around 4 I was telling the nurse I felt pressure, and thought maybe I should get checked. I must not have sounded very serious, because she responded with a "yeah, you let me know when you're really feeling it." Ok, so shortly after she left I paged her saying "I'm pretty uncomfortable," with slight reluctance in her voice, she said "alright, I will send in a resident to check you." 

So I got checked, and the resident looked shocked, she said "you're at a ten! Plus one! It's baby time, let me get the doctor" I was surprised too, I didn't even think it was possible to be a "plus one". So they got the nurses all ready, and while we waited on the doc the got me ready to push. As they prepped me, I heard a nurse exclaim, "I see the head!" All the while the doc was still getting gloved up, saying "don't push". I wasn't pushing, the baby just wanted to come I guess. He rushed over, and it began. One push later we met our little lady. 

I have to say, the joy and excitement we felt first hearing the doctor say "it's a girl!" Made the wait worth it. It was magical. I'm so glad we waited. 

Little baby Greta joined us at 4:41 am, 16 days early. Weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches long, and had a full head of hair. My earliest baby, yet the largest, and my easiest delivery. This thing had a good half a pound to her than my other babies. Way to go girl, you must have just been anxious to come meet us.