Finally found some time to post this now that we've been home for 2 days and adjusting to life with LO.

I started getting lower abdominal cramps on 12/30 around 6pm. I wasn't sure if they were the real deal because I had these same cramps the night before but they went away the next day. They were about 10-15 minutes apart and then got a little closer to 7-8 min apart. They lasted the whole night so I didn't get any sleep. They felt like really bad menstrual cramps but didn't get stronger as the night went on so I didn't think I should go to the hospital just yet. DH was working the night shift in the ER so I was just pacing my apartment the whole night just breathing through each contraction.

As morning drew near, they were intermittently 5 min apart so I decided to go to L&D just to get checked out. My OB was still on her holiday vacation. At 5:30am I took a cab to the hospital and DH was going to meet me there after his shift ended at 7. By the time I was triaged and checked, it was around 6:30am and to my surprise they said I was 6cm dilated and 75% effaced. The doctor was also surprised because I looked "comfortable" and not like I was in labor. They hooked me up to the monitor to see the contractions. At this point, they were getting stronger and more painful and I suddenly got really anxious knowing that this was actually happening that day. After just a few minutes on the monitor, I felt a gush of fluid. Sure enough my water broke and they told me I would be admitted. DH arrived a few minutes later and then I was taken to the delivery room.

When I got to the delivery room, they hooked me up to the monitor again and placed an IV with fluids. I was 7cm when they checked me. I thought to myself that now I know why people say to labor at home as long as possible because once you're hooked to the monitor and not able to move around, it makes it much harder to get through the contractions.

After an hour on the monitor they noticed that my contractions started to fade and at one point I went half an hour without any contractions. They also noticed that the baby's heart rate would drop with each contraction but then picked up again afterwards so they had me put on an oxygen mask. The resident and attending (who I didn't know since my OB was on vacation) came in and told me that they wanted to start pitocin to make my contractions stronger. At this point I requested the epidural since I was afraid the pitocin would make the pain much worse. I was afraid that they wouldn't be able to place the epidural because I have a curve in my spine but they got it on the first try and I felt much better not being able to feel the pain anymore.

The pitocin made my contractions 2-4 min apart but the baby's heartrate dropped further with the stronger contractions so they stopped it and let me labor on my own.

After about 3 hours they checked me again but I was still at 7-8 cm. That's when they started talking about the possibility of needing a C-section because I wasn't progressing fast enough and the baby's heartrate continued to drop with each contraction. That was really disheartening to hear since I really wanted to have a vaginal birth. They gave me some more time without the pitocin since I was having contractions on my own. A few hours later, they checked again and I was almost at 10cm (there was still a "rim" of cervix left) but the heartrate would drop sometimes to the 80s and at that point, they were no longer comfortable with waiting any longer. They said that the decels were happening for too long now and were likely due to the umbilical cord compressing the neck and since I'm a first time mom, the pushing phase could take another hour and they didn't know if the baby would tolerate it. I was really upset at that point because I felt like I was so close to the finish line, being almost at 10cm and ready to push. I just wanted them to give me a chance to at least try pushing and see if she would come down more. My husband and I talked it over and decided that if a C-section is best for the baby then we'll just have to do it. My husband went out to let them know we had agreed and saw them talking with another attending in the hallway so he came back to the room.

A few minutes later, the other attending they were talking to came in along with my team and he told me that if I really wanted to, we could try a few pushes before going to the C-section just to see how effective they were in getting the baby to come down. I was so relieved he was willing to at least give me a chance at a vaginal delivery. He checked me and said I was fully dilated and the head was lower down. After the first few pushes, he said the head was coming down nicely so at that point he said let's just do this but she needs to come out quick. I was so determined to push this girl out even though it was hard because I didn't feel anything from the epidural. I gave it my all and 20 minutes later she was out. It turns out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her body. We were so relieved and so thankful that this other doctor came in. If it wasn't for him, I would have definitely gotten the C-section. Not that I have anything against C-sections and my baby was having significant decels that made it indicated, but since I was so close to 10cm and pushing, I just really wanted to avoid it if possible and I did, thanks to this doctor. I feel so lucky and grateful that he was there that day and came into my room.

Baby Julia was born on 12/31 at 3:42pm weighing 6lb, 12oz and perfectly healthy. We celebrated New Year's Eve in the hospital together as a family of 3. She is the best New Years present ever