bebe!

totally unlike her father or her mother, bebe g came early!

two weeks early.

mere days after my "finishing up the nursery" post, i awoke at 2a on monday with contractions. ouch. i was convinced it was just false labor so i tried to power through for 45 minutes, walking around, changing positions, closing my eyes, hoping for a pass. yeah right. 45 minutes later i woke the husband.

for the next four hours, we labored at home. we timed contractions. we took naps in between. i vividly remember my contractions lasting about a minute and a half and peaking at 45 seconds. each time one started it got worse and worse until i thought i would pass out at 45 seconds, so i made husband help me to each 45, when the contraction would mercifully start to subside.

i took a shower. ate some wheat thins (they don't let you eat once you get to the hospital so i was trying to get some energy in). we called my clinic. they told us to go in anytime (i guess contractions anywhere from 5 - 13 minutes apart is okay). the h packed. he said we should labor at home as much as we could. i told him that if we missed the epidural window he would be severely punished.

our ten minute drive to the hospital was quite the ordeal. i couldn't handle the contractions. arrived around 7:30a. i doubled over at the registration desk and couldn't speak i was crying and in so much pain. they whisked me away to a room, iv'd me up.

a nurse asked if i wanted an epidural. i couldn't say yes fast enough.

an hour later, around 9:30a, the anesthesiologist came in for the epidural. i was completely terrified. they talk you through it but you can't see it so it's doubly scary. but it didn't hurt. everything felt the way he described it.

after the epi kicked in, the h and i napped. for hours. i felt dull contractions, pulsing, like things were happening, but honestly i was so tired that i slept through them.

when the nurse checked in on us at 11:30a, she let me know that i was already 10 cm dilated and ready to push! the hubs, of course, was en route to the car to get his laptop. i'm sure he thought it would be quite a while until the big show. ERT. wrong. she told me we could wait until he got back to begin pushing.

around noon, we did a test push. total weirdness. i could feel sensation, but no pain. therefore, i had absolutely no idea if i was truly pushing or not. i have to admit, in the beginning i wasn't giving it my all. i was scared to tear.

the h came back.

pushing began. during a contraction, i would inhale deeply, then hold my breath and push. counterintuitive because i wanted to breathe through the pushing. right? i pushed until i was red in the face and used my feet/legs as leverage. goodness it was hard, even though it wasn't painful.

an hour and eleven minutes later, approximately 1:11, the doctor told me to look down (read: no way) and bebe girl popped out screaming! they plopped her on my chest and we just stared at her. i cried. the hubs was crying. as soon as i started talking she calmed down. must have recognized mama's voice! hubs cut the umbilical cord and they whisked her away to be cleaned off.

holding her for the first time was the most amazing experience of my life. we made her. and she is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen.