My birth story... Baby Pears is finally here!

First of all I have predicted for awhile that our baby would come early and I guess I was right! Baby Pears came 2 1/2 weeks early.
4:00pm I was getting ready to get into the shower when I noticed one or two drops running down my leg which I knew wasn't urine.  My doctor was out of town and the office was closed for Labor Day so I didn't know if I should call or not to come in. I called around 4:15pm and the doctor on call called me back and said I should come into Labor & Delivery.  My husband and I got ready and brought our hospital bags just incase. On the way to the hospital I broke down because I thought something was wrong because I was leaking fluid and it wasn't my water breaking.

4:45pm we arrived at Labor & Delivery and I was hooked up to two monitors.  The nurse took a quick test to see if my water broke and it came up negative. I kept telling my husband that I was probably going to not be admitted as we waited for the second test to see if my water broke.  When the nurse was checking my monitors, she kept telling me I was having contractions and they were 3 minutes a part and my dialation was a 3-3.5.  I couldn't even feel them and she would say "wow here's another big contraction can you feel that?" The only thing I could feel is when I would touch my stomach and it was hard. My pain level at this point was a 1 if that. My doctor was on her way back from her vacation which was great.

6:00pm My nurse was gone for awhile and when she came back with the second test, she said congrats and we were going to have a baby! I was so excited to be admitted but it was nerve racking as well because I still felt I had time to mentally prepare myself for my delivery.  I got an IV at this point which I hated looking at.
During the next few hours my water still wasn't breaking, I had a small hole/tear in my placenta and I needed to walk around to possibly help it break.  I got on my shoes and my husband and I power walked all around the Labor & Delivery.  I could only be off of the monitors for 45 minute so we walked all around the delivery floor and nothing happened so my doctor needed to break my water when she came in.

10:20pm My doctor came right to the hospital and checked me and I only progressed to a 3.5 and my water still was not broken.  My contractions were about 2.5-3 minutes a part and I still couldn't feel them, I was more uncomfortable so my pain level was about a 2.  I saw the huge crochet needle they were going to use and definitely was not excited for that.  I freaked out and was so distracted that it would hurt that all of the sudden I felt all of my water come and didn't even feel it break thank goodness. By this point I was so hungry, I didn't eat much that day because I was feeling sick but I could eat popsicles and flavored ice which were good but not that filling.  The IV was keeping me super hydrated which was nice.

12:00am My nurses told me around 6pm that I could get an epidural whenever I felt ready.  By midnight I was dialated to a 5-6 and I was feeling more pain. I felt only about 4 contractions during this time (pain about 5) and I decided to have the epidural then because it would take about 30 minutes and then about 15 minutes to get into my system.  The epidural was the most painful part of my labor.  They had to put in the needle twice in my spine which really was not fun.

1:00pm The epidural was put in by this point and slowly starting to work. I was dialated to a 7 so I'm so glad I had the epidural starting to work then.  My pain level went down to a 1 again and it was super weird having my whole bottom half be totally numb, I tried to keep waking up my legs but they were totally numb.  I didn't want to be totally numb when I delivered so I made sure the epidural was minimally coming into my body.

3:00pm I was dialated to a 9+. I was so tired and was trying to get sleep the last few hours but was excited/nervous/not knowing what to expect so I think I got less than half hour. I had nurses coming in frequently to make sure my levels were ok and my husband had a bed/chair that he pulled right next to my hospital bed.

4:10pm I was at a complete-complete (dialated to a 10 and ready to have a baby!)  Around this time I didn't feel that much pain but I freaked out that I would feel a lot of pain when the baby came so I pressed the epidural button for security.  4:15 I started pushing which I was terrified of, but it went awesome. I was in no pain, not completely numb like I wanted so I was able to push and feel everything.  5am I pushed the button again and at 5:20 the doctor came.

5:40am Baby was born! It was so excited seeing our little baby for the first time, it was such a special/spiritual moment.  They cleaned out his lungs and put him on a towel on my chest. It was so great seeing his little eyes and seeing my husband hold him for the first time.  Little one got measured and cleaned up, he came back over to me and stopped crying and just sat wide awake looking at both of us.  It was so cute and a moment I will never forget.