I started having contractions on Sunday, January 12 late in the evening. They intensified around 2 am, at which point, I told James I wanted to go get on the monitors and see how I was progressing. I drove myself to the hospital and told James I would text him if they admitted me. I wasn't on the monitors but 10 minutes when the OB on call said it was baby day and I was getting admitted! The contractions lasted throughout the night and into the morning, but I was having trouble progressing. I was 4 cm when I arrived at the hospital, but by 10 am I was only 5. They broke my waters and it wasn't until 12:30 pm I reached 6 cm.
That's when the magic happened.
At approximately 12:30 pm, my nurse checked me and I was 6 cm and about 80% effaced. I was getting frustrated because the pain was excruciating. Way too painful to only be 6. I feared my labor would last another 12 hours to get from 6-10 at this pace. My body wasn't reacting to the pain how I'd planned and hoped. I was still attempting to hypnobirth, but I began to doubt my ability to continue without pain medicine or an epidural. I asked for the epidural, but we were unfamiliar with the anesthesiologist on call, so James called a friend/colleague to see if she could come up and do it, but she was in another surgery. I cancelled the epidural. My contractions were horrible at this point. Tears were streaming down my face and I started to feel pressure (at 6 cm, yes), so the nurse checked me again. I was 7 cm. No big deal. She called Dr. Knox and told him that I'd gone from 6 to 7 in 10 minutes and he literally said "ok" and hung up on her. He was headed over to check on me. The call was placed at 12:49 pm.
On the very next contraction, as she hangs up the phone, she's walking out of the room to start getting the delivery supply cart and the things needed for the baby, and I had to PUSH. I mean full on, she's coming out, tons of pressure, the worst surge of pain imaginable P-U-S-H. {at 7 cm, yes} I yelled for her to come back, then another contraction came and I was pushing again and I looked at James and I said "SHE'S CROWNING!!!!" He lifted up the sheet and her head was completely out. I screamed "HELP ME!" pushed again and at 12:52 PM, Finley Grace was born with no doctor or anyone there to deliver me. I pushed her straight out onto the still-extended bed, and there she lay as a swarm of nurses rushed to get her and suction/clamp. In 3 minutes, I went from 7 to baby.
My OB arrived 5 minutes later and I said "you're late!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
