The Longest or Shortest Labor Ever!

I started having strong/painful contractions a week before I went into labor. These were more painful than anything I experienced with the girls and thought for sure I was going into labor, but they would abruptly stop. They continued for the next few days then went away for a couple of days. This was beyond frustrating. I kept thinking it was happening then nothing. My due date came and went and the contractions were back. I went to my appointment two days after my due date and my Dr. couldn't believe I wasn't in the hospital having a baby considering I was a 5. She messed with me a little and the contractions started pretty quickly. So what do you do when you might be in labor? I took the girls to meet my parents for lunch. However, my contractions were so painful that I ended up leaving and my parents brought the girls home. I told Jason I thought I was in labor but was ok at that point. I laid down upstairs while MeeMaw and PawPaw watched the kids. The contractions were incredibly strong but started getting further apart so I was worried it was stopping again. I wanted to labor at home as long as possible since I was going to see how far I could go without an epidural... This was difficult considering I'm in pain while the girls are trying to talk to me and I was trying to get stuff together. Jason finished work and started timing my contractions. He made us leave when he saw they were only 2 minutes apart. I think I'm always in denial about my labor being real. Luckily his parents were here so we could just leave without worrying about the kids. I was hurting really bad and had been most of the day. Thinking of doing it without an epidural was not looking appealing.

When I got checked into our room at the hospital I was already a 6. Those contractions were working! I had mentioned to my Doctor I might want to try it naturally, but honestly didn't really think I would be able to so we never prepared for it. Apparently this was on my chart as all the nurses mentioned it when they came in. It was nice not being hooked up to an IV. When my parents got there I told my Mom I was going to see how far I could go without anything. I think she thought I was crazy (probably since she had two natural births that were beyond painful due to positioning of my sister and me and other stuff). She tried to cram her months of Lamaze class into a couple of minutes for us since, again, we didn't really prepare for this. Well, with some tips from my Mom, Dana, and an awesome husband the rest of my labor progressed pretty fast. I can't even explain how wonderful and supportive Jason was. I couldn't have done it without him! There was definitely a point where I truly didn't think I could do it. I quickly felt the need to push then had to endure waiting until it was time to push. Then an amazing boy was born! It really was beyond amazing. I'm so glad with how everything went and I did feel I was more emotional, in a good way, after his birth. We're not sure if the hours after when I could not sleep due to excitement was from a baby high or the pain medication they gave me later :)

I don't even feel like I just had a baby. Besides being tired, I feel completely fine physically.

While we are fortunate to have 3 great labors/deliveries the best and most important part was our healthy baby.