In Denial

So people assume I had a short labor with Schuler.  For the most part that's correct.  However, it appears slightly shorter since we took our sweet time going to the hospital.  On Monday afternoon I started having stronger contractions.  (I chalked them up to false labor pains).  My Dad had just arrived from Colorado and we had to walk a little slower as we were at the grocery store.  By the time we finished and picked up John Henry I had to sit on the couch to relax a little.  That's when I realized that the contractions were coming at consistent intervals. 

 

As my dad and Jay were feeding John Henry dinner I realized that my contractions were five minutes apart.  To be honest I didn't know if that was worth a call to the doctor.  My water didn't break and I never had to go through this with John Henry so I didn't know!  After asking some friends and family I made the call and was genuinely surprised when they said I should make my way to the hospital. 

 

And guess who was more surprised?  Jay!  He had it in his head that we were having the baby on Wednesday since that was our scheduled induction date.  Once he realized I wasn't joking about going to the hospital I saw the look of panic.  His first question, "Do I have time to help your dad bathe and put John Henry down?"  Sure why not.  So they bathed John Henry and I got my stuff together.  After Jay finished he made a comment about wishing he had showered earlier in the day.  I decided that a shower wouldn't put us too far behind so while he showered I rocked and sang to John Henry.  Once we were in the car we realized we hadn't had dinner.  I didn't want anything but Jay needed something and I knew that once we got to the hospital he wouldn't have time so we stopped at Chick-fil-A.  As we arrived at the hospital I refused to be dropped off so we walked in from the parking garage.  That's when I realized it was time to get this show on the road. 

 

We checked in at 8:21 PM.  When they examined me an hour later I was at 6.5 centimeters.  Unfortunately you can't have an epidural until you get a bag of IV fluids in your system.  That IV couldn't drain fast enough.  Once the epidural came I was past 7 and it was 10 PM.  After that things would have gone a lot faster if Schuler didn't get stuck around my tailbone.  Thankfully the doctor on call was Dr. Taylor and he entertained us with some pretty funny stories.  I pushed for a little over an hour and then at 11:37 Schuler arrived. 

 

If for some crazy reason there is a next time, we'll probably head in a little earlier.  But hey, all is well that ends well!

 

When my dad arrived on Monday afternoon he wanted to take a picture of me to document my big belly.  We didn't think that this would be the last pregnant picture of me before delivering.