The Birth Story

So... where did it all begin? Well I am not too sure. Mr. Jo-Jo as we called our unborn son, was feeling a lot bigger than his sister did at 37 weeks. At my 37 week appointment I was measuring 1cm, and 50-60% effaced. Nothing surprising for that time. I was not sure what I was feeling was normal or not, because this size of a baby was new to me. I was feeling nauseous, getting leg pains, and having to go to the bathroom a lot that week! At my 38 week appointment on Tuesday the 6th at 12:20, I was 3cm and 80% effaced. My doctor said that was really good progress for one week, and that I would most likely have the baby within a week. We both jokingly agreed that Friday, the day he was on-call, would be a good day. I left the appointment feeling excited that he was almost here! I thought Friday sounded good, but if I had to wait a whole week, that would still be soon enough for me. Little did I know, we were going to have the baby that night!! I had a discussion with him about our family history of fast labor with the second pregnancy, and whether or not he thought I might be on the same track, (ie- you go into labor and you race to the hospital so you can make it in time.) He said "well, I think if you have contractions for an hour, you should probably come in."

I came home and visited with my mom, and sister who were watching Amelia during my appointment- they stayed until 3pm and took off. Michael got home a little after 4pm, and I noticed I was having some discomfort- which I thought were Brackston Hicks, so I kept about my business. Michael invited John, his brother over to help cook a yummy dinner. I was a little worried that these contractions might go somewhere as dinner time rolled around, but I was not sure. With Amelia I was induced, and had no Brackston Hicks with her, so I didn't want to worry too much in case it didn't go anywhere. I decided around 6:30 that since the contractions hadn't gone away I should time them to see if it is really something to worry about.

At this point I couldn't remember if my doctor had said and hour of real labor contractions, or just any contractions- I didn't quite know what to do. When do you call it labor? Man I was wishing I took that refresher course on labor. After timing for a while I saw that I was having contractions every 3-5 min, and they lasted 40-60 seconds long... hum...I didn't know what that meant- I knew from class you go in when you have 60 second contractions every 5 min, and when it has been consistent for around an hour. Well I decided to call triage around 7:30pm- thinking this might be it. They convinced me to NOT go in. The nurse was telling me- you can always come in, but I am pretty sure we would send you home. I was not happy, but figured she new more then me. I decided to stop timing them- and to call my mom and then go take a bath. In the bath I felt better, but I think they contractions where getting stronger- Michael came in and said, hum... you are reminding me of when we were in the hospital with Amelia, I think we should go to the hospital. That was all I needed to hear. We packed the last few items into our hospital bag, asked John to stay and watch Amelia- Michael had already put her to bed. (perfect timing!! ) Then we were off, it was round 9:30pm- and on the way to the hospital I became convinced I was in labor, it was getting harder and harder to manage.

We checked in and the silly people said Admitting was in the ER and we would have to wait for them. I was really not happy! Michael said we waited around 20 min, and they decided to just bring me right back to triage. From that point on, I just remember a lot of pain, a lot of questions, and lots of nurses doing stuff. I asked if they were busy- cause I wanted my epidural, I had just planned on having one. But by the time I got to my room, I was 9cm, and they said that we might not have time. Afterwords the doctor said that he didn't want to tell me no, but he knew I would not really get an epidural, I didn't want to hear that!!

At 10:49pm on Tuesday July 6th we had Daniel Lee Ellerbeck!!

In the end the nurse said I was at the hospital an hour and one minute before I had Daniel, and we were in the delivery room only 19 minutes before he was born. ( I think that is fast, but it felt a lot longer to me ) Looking back, if I had just come in after and hour of strong contractions- say 7:30, I think it would have gone much smoother. ( I think that is what my doctor was recommending now that I look back... too bad I couldn't remember ) So next time- I am just going to go in, and if they tell me to go home, I will wait in the lobby :)