my short labor & delivery story goes something like this: my water broke at 5pm on sun march 14th at wegmans. that's right. at wegmans. talk about slightly embarrassing! after attempting to clean myself up in the bathroom, and getting walked in on b/c I was too anxious to lock the door, i bolted to find big mcallister. he was checking out so i said "my water broke. i'll be in the car."
my contractions didn't start right away. so our time at home was spent getting ready. i was really excited and anxious about finally getting to meet baby mcallister. the doctor said if nothing happened on it's own to come to the hospital at 8pm. so we waited! i made some phone calls to get my mom lined up to come out and watch lucy. and then i tried to relax. i think big mcallister was even more anxious than i was. he was trying to get me in the car at 7:20pm when the hospital is a mere 3 miles away ;)
we got to the hospital and sat in triage for hours. they were busy-busy with LOTS of babies coming that night. when they checked me i was 3 cm dilated and things were progressing. slowly, but progressing. so they checked me into a room and we waited for things to happen. contractions started late in the evening, but they were small ones about 10 mins apart and they weren't painful. big mcallister was being such a good coach and trying to massage and talk me through them. but they weren't painful, more annoying than anything b/c i couldn't sleep through them, so i convinced him that one of us had to sleep and it should be him. i spent the night playing suduko on my phone and watching awful tv. around 5 am - i was deliriously tired and starving. (note to self - next time around eat BEFORE going to the hospital!) they checked me at 5am and i was only 5 cm :( so they informed me i'd be going on pitocin at 7am. they offered me some pain relief to 'take the edge off' and get me to sleep b/c i was gonna need some energy so they gave me fentanyl with a small dose of morphine in it. it was great, didn't last long, but allowed me to sleep for 2 hours!
they woke me at 7am and started pitocin. things progressed quickly after that. i went from 5cm to 10cm in less than 4 hours! my mom and tom visited around 9am and she helped me through some of the contractions. it was around this time that i couldn't talk through them. they were 90 seconds apart. they still were fairly manageable until about 10am. when i got to 7cm - i requested the epidural for pain relief. although they had been telling me it only takes 20 mins to get it - the hospital was a bit BUSY that day. it took them 41 mins to get the epidural and they were the LONGEST 41 MINUTES OF MY LIFE. the pain was so intense i couldn't be in the bed - i had to be on my hands and knees or the birth ball. my doctor, whom i love, came in
and saw that we were so close - she managed to get that anesthesiologist pronto. he gave me a smaller dose since i was so far along but it was heavenly. in hindsight - i wished i would have had more time to enjoy the epidural but i'm still happy i followed my plan to labor without it for as long as i could.
throughout the entire pregnancy, i was scared about pushing the most. surprisingly - it turned out to be the easiest part for me! i started at 11am and the little guy was out by 11:51. (this apparently is very fast for a first time mom. or atleast the doctors were trying to make me feel good by telling me that!) i credit it, and my easy recovery, to my AMAZING doctor and attending that assisted the delivery. everything was calm, simple and they were chatting us all up in between contractions like we were old friends. they were both so great and i feel so lucky to have landed them!
baby mcallister... i will never forget our first moments. when i think about them, i go back to room 303 and relive seeing you & hearing you for the first time over and over again. these moments are forever etched into my memory. when the nurses put you into my arms, you stole my heart. all of it. happy birthday peanut :)
