This has taken me a while to write since LO was born on 8/22. The first two weeks DH was home so I spent all of my down time with him, plus we were dealing with a very colicky baby, BF'ing issues and some PPD so our hands were tied. Oh and throw in some circumcision drama (I will tell the story in another post) and you can understand why this has taken me almost 3 weeks!

The morning of 8/21, I walked DH to the subway and got a coffee and a muffin on my way home to WFH. It was a really busy day at work, so I barely noticed when I started feeling what I can best describe as 'uneasyness', a cross between light menstrual cramps and indigestion. Nothing like contractions or anyone's description of labor pains or BH. I had to run to the bathroom several times, especially when I ate something, but I was so busy working I saw it more as an annoyance than a sign I might be in labor.

Finally at around noon, it did feel more like cramps so I googled "what does labor feel like" and read the description from several websites like webmd.com and ultimately determined I was finally experiencing BH contractions at 38 weeks 5 days. Since it was my first experience with contractions ever and I was so far along, I texted DH about it but told him I was 99% sure I wasn't going into labor but to keep his phone nearby. He was out at lunch with a client and didn't even get the text until almost 2, at which point the pains had completely stopped. DH called me immediately to see what was going on and was very disappointed to hear they had gone away, but he had to go right into another meeting so we didn't get to speak for long.

About an hour later, the pains returned and this time they were a little more painful and were coming quickly, like every 2-3 minutes. I still thought they were BH, but by 4pm the pain had increased so I called my Dr.'s office. The nurse told me that it was most likely false labor, but if they got worse in the next 30 minutes to come into the hospital to be checked out. I was really upset to hear this since I knew it would be a false alarm and I didn't want DH to have to rush home for us to spend hours in the hospital only to be sent home. I called DH anyway and told him the news and he jumped right on the subway to come meet me.

When he got home at 4:30 my pain level had increased, but we were still both annoyed and very skeptical about going to the hospital. We took our time adding things to the hospital bag, but by 5:00 when we got in a cab the pain was making me freeze where I was while recovering. During that time I downloaded a contraction app to my iphone, but it still didn't make any sense to me since the pain increased every 1.5-2 minutes which seemed way too fast to be labor.

We got to the hospital, registered and were sent to triage where the doctors determined I was 2-3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. Everyone in triage told me this was most likely false labor and encouraged us to go home or at least walk around the hospital first before being admitted. I was in some serious pain, but they seemed so sure and I was really afraid of being admitted too soon so I agreed to walk around the hospital after they paged my Dr. to come examine me. It took them 20 minutes to get a hold of him and during that time I 100% changed my mind. I was now yelling through contractions and didn't care about being admitted too early, I wanted an epidural. My Dr. was on call and came in, asked me how I was doing and I begged him not to send us home. He assured me he wasn't going to do that and I was admitted.

It took about 30 minutes to get my epidural which wasn't nearly as bad as everyone has described. They took a while with the placement, but it didn't hurt at all going in. My water broke while it was being placed and it was green/brown, so a pediatrician would need to be present during the delivery to make sure DS didn't inhale too much fluid in the womb.

Once the epidural was in, it was like sweet relief. I could still feel the contractions and they were painful, but it was a totally bearable pain and I could control the flow of pain meds which was great. My Dr. came in to check me around 9pm at which point I was already 8cm! He seemed really surprised at my progress and said he would come back in 1.5-2 hours to check me again. Our delivery room was nice and spacious and had a great view of the city so we were very comfortable while waiting. DH went to get some dinner, came back and fell asleep next to me on the cot provided for partners. At 11, the Dr. came in again and I was fully dilated, so we woke up DH and did two practice pushes. They were so good that the Dr. actually asked us if we wanted to wait until after midnight to push for real so it wouldn't count as our first night in the hospital. I looked at DH and we agreed, so the Dr. left and the delivery team waited patiently outside of our door. As soon as the clock struck midnight, they all rushed in, one more practice push and it again was so effective that they all ran around setting up lights and getting into position. I pushed three times and the head got a little wedged so the Dr. asked if he could use a vacuum which I agreed to and about 2 seconds later the head came out and at 12:08am my son was born. DH and my reaction was complete shock, we were expecting to push for hours as everyone told us would happen so we weren't prepared for it to happen so fast. The pediatrician took DS to the table to wash him and check his lungs while DH took photos and a voice recording of his first cries. Then they brought him to me and it was such an overwhelming moment since I was still in shock and disbelief that my son was actually here. He had to go to the nursery for about 30 minutes to be checked out since he was still making grunting sounds so DH went with him while I recovered then we all got to spend the night in a private room as a family since that was the only available bed.

The first couple weeks were pretty rough since we were in way over our heads, but things have calmed down significantly as we get used to the new routine and find ways to make things easier. DS is very healthy and has been a great eater and sleeper despite the gas/colic pains he was having at first. We are so happy and I feel so blessed to have both DH and DS in my life