Birth Story and Contest winner!

First off I want to say thank you for all the sweet comments! Also big, huge hugs to Robyn for coming here to watch the kids (at all hours!) and to the Fabulous Miss Em for all her help here and blogging for me!!!

And now on with the story....

I woke up having contractions on Thursday morning, not much unlike a few other days this past week. They felt a little stronger so I was hoping 'this is it'. They remained about 10-15 minutes apart and weren't really getting any stronger or closer, just annoying. I finally decided to call my doctor and see if I could come in and be checked and *maybe* be induced to speed this along. Robyn came to stay with the kids and Dh and I went off across the ferry. This just happens to be my doctor's week off, so I was seen by a doctor that was a complete stranger to me. She checked my cervix and said I was dilated 3 cm. She proceeds to tell us that they don't really even have any rooms available as they are very busy. She suggested that I go walk around for a couple hours and come back if things pick up. At this point both hubby and I are really annoyed. We both felt like we had just been casually dismissed. Since going home would take awhile we decided to just go to a few stores and walk around and see if things would speed up. There I was walking through Best Buy, then Target all the while having contractions pretty consistent...but still ten minutes apart. Finally I'm just tired so we got back in the car and came home.

I'm feeling defeated, tired and desperate at this point. I've had friends tell me about drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea, so I decided to give it a try. In the evening I drank 3 cups of the tea, I'm still having contractions, they are still far apart.... I went and laid down thinking I'd need as much rest as I could get, even if it was in 9-10 minute intervals.

Another couple of restless hours later I start having intense contractions. After timing a few they are now 7-9 minutes apart. I look at the clock...1:38 am...the last ferry off the island was at 1:20 am and the next isn't until 4:05 am. Not for 2 hours! I'm starting to feel a bit panicked! I called Robyn and she said she'd come over. A little after 3 am she came and my contractions were probably about 5-6 minutes apart. We jump in the car and head out. We NEED to make this ferry! Thank goodness we get on the ferry! Now the contractions are 3-4 minutes apart, 30 minute ferry ride....aaaahh!

Phew, we make it across the ferry and start driving to the hospital. I've been through labor 6 times before this and NEVER has is hurt so bad. Each contraction was unbelievable! We finally arrive at the hospital and proceed to check in. It's now 5 am.

They get me to a room and the nurse is scrambling to get things prepped. I'm begging for pain meds or an epidural but she says she needs to check my cervix first. They get me into a gown prep the bed and she checks...I'm a 5 1/2 -6. The nurse calls the anesthesiologist and the doctor to come FAST! Then she starts working on my IV.

The contractions are now one after the other and so painful I'm freaking out!

This is not like me and my hubby (poor guy) is trying to figure out what to do! The nurse says she wants to check me again and this time she says I'm complete and the head is way low. Being very encouraging Dh tells me to try to hang in there the baby will be out in about 5 minutes. Me, being extremely rationally practically yell at him, "how do you know?" Then with the next contraction I felt like pushing and couldn't stop. One big push later he was born into the hands of the nurse!

The time was 5:33 am, a mere 15 minutes after walking into the hospital room.

Not exactly how I would have planned it, but hey he's wonderful and healthy and right now I'm in this new baby euphoria and am just trying to forget about how ungraceful I was :)

and now for our contest winner....

I put all the names of people who commented onto little pieces of paper and my son picked one out:

Leanne

You are the lucky winner!!