Labor Story

I know the part everyone wants to read about is how labor went. I don't blame you. I want to hear the labor story of every woman who walked the face of the earth. It's fascinating to me.
Monday morning Bubba and I woke up with a lovely cough and some serious congestion, so we went to the Emergency Room. The line was ridiculously long, so I decided to see if his doctor could squeeze him in later in the week. Anthony said, "Well, since we're already at the hospital, why don't you go up to labor and delivery and have them check you." I have a history of silent cervical dilation, so it's never a bad idea.

Landon and Anthony went to the mall. I went up to L&D. My midwife, Christine checked me and I was only 1-2 cm! Dr. Bass said I was 3 cm more three weeks ago! (Turns out my water bag was hanging out, so I felt like 1-2) I said, "Okay, I'm going home to do laundry." And Christine suggested I walk around for an hour first. So, I power walked in circles while the nurses and med students laughed at me. They were like, "You really want it to happen today, don't you? It's not gonna happen."

Christine checked me after an hour and I was a 5! I hadn't felt a single contraction, so I was feeling pretty excited. She said she has delivered thousands of babies and has never seen someone labor like that. I decided to keep walking around, and 15 minutes later I was a 7. At this point, I really did not want my water to break on the floor, so I decided to sit down.

Nikki and I were eating Reeces, reading Star magazines, and asking Anthony questions like, "Would you rather marry Oprah or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?"

I wasn't making any progress just sitting there, so Christine decided to break my water. I wanted an intrathecal first, just to make sure I didn't feel any pain. It's kind of like an epidural, but it's a one time shot and wears off in 3 hours. So ofcourse, three hours later he's still not born, and I felt some pretty heavy contractions. Nikki timed them. 4 minutes on, 30 seconds off. That was pretty awesome. Within about a half hour I very suddenly felt the urge to push. I yelled, "I'm pushing!" And the nurse ran in. The intrathecal had worn off entirely, and I am not good at pushing. It was the most intense pain of my life. I thought about Landon and how much I love him; how he was worth every pain, and this baby would be too. I prayed. After almost an hour, when I thought I could not take it anymore, the angels entered in and Harper was born.

I was thrilled to hear him cry right away, and they placed his tiny little body right on my chest. He sobbed and sobbed and held onto me. He kept one eye open and looked around while clinging tightly to my chest. We stayed like that for over an hour, and it was bliss. I started to feed him and tears welled up in my eyes. I had this surge of love overcome me completely, as his crying subsided and I was able to comfort him. It was an amazing day, and just like Landon, he was totally worth it!

"There is no other closeness in human life like the closeness between a mother and her baby."

--Susan Cheever