I am finally getting around to writing up my birth story before I forget (I think newborn baby brain is like pregnancy brain x 100!). On Tuesday, 10/16, I went to my 39 wk appt. I was 2.5cm dilated and 10% effaced. My OB was able to strip my membranes, and she seemed confident that I would go into labor at some point in the next week and a half. I wasn't so sure, as I felt completely normal. The next day, 10/17, I lost my mucous plug. I didn't get too excited, as I knew that could happen weeks before going into labor. I also went to a reflexology session Wednesday afternoon with a guy who supposedly was a master at "induction reflexology". The massage actually hurt, and I left feeling no different. Later that evening, I had some very very slight crampiness and felt a little more tired that normal. DH seemed to be getting somewhat anxious about the fact that baby would be coming at some point in the next few weeks, so we went over our "escape plan" and put together a list of people to email/contact when I did go into labor. It's a good thing we did that because...

On 10/18, I woke up at 5am to go pee for the 4th time. I went back to bed and noticed that my underwear were wet. I went back into the bathroom and noticed a trickle coming out, even though I was not peeing. Dh woke up and I told him I thought my water had broke. It was definitely not the dramatic gush I thought it would be. I went back to bed and we lay there for the next hour. I called my OB around 6:30, and she instructed me to head to the hospital sooner rather than later, as we live about 30 minutes away. So I showered and we left around 7:15.

A trip that usually takes 30 minutes took 1hour15 minutes due to rush hour traffic. Worst drive of my life. We finally got the hospital; I was 4cm and about 80% effaced. Our doula met us there and I was on my ball, rocking and bouncing, which seemed to help. My goal was to do it med-free; however, when I had to get back into bed for monitoring, my contractions picked way up and I was in a LOT of pain. I decided to get an epidural. The first attempt didn't work, and so I had to wait another hour before they tried again. That one worked, and while I enjoyed the lack of pain from contractions, I didn't like feeling so out of it and numb. But the epidural was the right choice for me, it seems, because about an hour after I got it, I had gone from 5cm to 10cm and it was time to push! I started pushing at 2pm and Leo Henry was born at 2:20pm. He was 7lbs11oz and 21inches long. I had one very small internal tear (1 stitch). Recovery so far has not been bad at all, I'm mostly just sore. We got home from the hospital on Saturday and he has been nursing like a champ and pooping every 15 minutes it seems like Seeing DH with him is the best thing ever--he is a puddle of mush with the baby, and I know who is going to have to play bad cop with Leo when he gets older!

Some pics: