The Birth

I had my first contraction at 3am on Saturday morning, June 30. I waited awhile to wake Eric up, because at first I wasn't sure if it was the real thing! By 8 in the morning, my contractions were coming steadily every 10 minutes or so. When my mom arrived at noon, not much had changed. I decided that we should get out and keep busy, hoping the activity would speed up my contractions. Eric, my mom, and I drove to the Aquarium of the Pacific. When we arrived, it was about 2pm, and I had been having steady contractions for 11 hours! We walked around the aquarium for about an hour, with little change. Then, around 3pm, I had a doozy of a contraction! Whoa! For nearly another hour, I had a strong, long, and very painful contraction about every 8-10 minutes as we continued to walk around the aquarium... although now that last hour is very much a blurr. After a few horrendous contractions, we decided it was time to leave, but at that point I was in so much pain, that we had to have the security guards drive us to our car in their little golfcart. All I remember is pain, pain, pain and then a golf cart!

When we arrived back at our apartment, I curled up on the floor in a quilt, trying desperately to relax during each contraction. After a few hours, I was having painful, long contractions every 5 minutes, so we decided to head to the hospital. After being examined by a nurse, it was determined that I was only dilated to 3, and I had to go home! We were told to come back when my contractions were every 3 minutes for 2 hours. I was so upset, that by the time we got home, my contractions had already sped up, and for the next few hours I endured the most agonizing pain of my life!!! By the time we went back to the hospital around 10:30 pm, I was barely coherent. I decided I could no longer tolerate the pain and was told the anesthesiologist would come and give me an epidural. THREE HOURS LATER I finally got the epidural. The moments that immediately followed the epidural were some of the best moments of my life! As much as I was hoping to give birth without drugs, I had endured 22 hours of contractions and had "experienced" enough labor! The epidural was a blessing from heaven!

After receiving the epidural at 1:30 am on Sunday, July 1 I laid in bed for 7 more hours, with no change. When the doctor came in around 8, he broke my water. Two hours later, I was still not fully dilated and was given a small amount of Pitocin. By 11 am I was fully dilated and ready to push. After 2 1/2 hours of pushing, Anna was born at 1:25pm on Sunday, July 1. It was the happiest moment of my life to date.

A picture with the midwife, Tom, who delivered Anna.
Eric and Anna cuddle in the hospital bed.

Her first bath, 1 hour old!