Will has arrived! - Birth Story Part One

Most of you already know that our baby showed up on Wednesday - William Graham Lane arrived at 8:04am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 weighing in at 6lbs 10ounces and 20 inches of complete perfection.

Here's how it all happened. I went to the doctor on Tuesday at 3pm. I was back at the office by 4:15 where I finished the work day. While at the doctor's office, I told Greg that my back had been hurting all day on and off and I felt really different. I couldn't really describe it except for different. Little did I know that I was in labor already!

I left work at 5:30 - which is actually on time and most of the time I end up leaving closer to 6. On the way home the back pains kept coming and this time about 15 to 20 minutes apart. I got home around 6, told Greg the pains were stronger and more often. So, I started laundry, Greg made a homemade pizza, we ate dinner and I timed the pains while we ate. They were 10 minutes apart by 7pm.

I tell Greg that "this is happening...we're for sure in labor" - and we both starting picking up around the house, folding the laundry that had been done, Greg got in the shower and when he got out we called the doctor. Dr. Littleton (our first choice doctor) was who called me back after leaving a message on the on-call machine. He told me to call back when the pain was 5 minutes apart and that he'd meet us at the hospital.

I got in the shower - blow dried my hair, put on a bit of makeup while G stayed in the bathroom timing my contractions on the app on my phone. He stayed in there probably to make sure a baby didn't come out in the shower - ha! Afterwards he loaded the car and by 9pm the contractions were 5-6 minutes apart. We decided to head to the hospital. When we got in the car we called the doctor back and he said he'd see us when we got there.

We made it the hospital a little after 10pm and got checked in and put into the delivery room by 10:20pm. They checked me and I was still 3cm. Yep - at 3pm I was 3cm and here it was 7 hours later and I was still only 3cm. I put on the lovely hospital gown, and the nurse who was with us paged the doctor. He came in and said we needed to walk for an hour.

So, G and I took a romantic stroll around the birthing center at REX. Every few minutes making a stop to hold onto the wall for a contraction. Greg was a champ. He was patient, never complained and was supportive the entire time.

By the time we finished the walk it was almost midnight. And contractions were getting closer together and a lot more painful. I was checked again and had progressed. "You're between a 4 and 5" the nurse told me. then she said, "The first 5 take the longest - you're getting close". It was at that time I told her I wanted an epidural. And then she told me I had to have an entire bag of fluids before I could get that. So, I was hooked up to the IV and then G just had to help me through the contractions.

The entire time I had back labor. I never felt pain in the front of my body. It was all in my lower back. I'm not going to lie, I was in the most pain I've ever had in my entire life. It felt as if someone was taking the biggest knife you've ever seen and slashing my back over and over and over again. And once it was over, it was over...and, I handled it well - until contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and lasted 60-90 seconds. There just wasn't enough recovery time to use any pain management on my end.

A little before 3am I finished the fluids...and anesthesia was paged and on the way to see us.