I was so uncomfortable toward the end and just done with being pregnant and by Saturday was still kind of disappointed that I had no progress up to that point. Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the mall to walk around since it was rainy and chilly outside. That night we put the kids to bed early and Tom wound up falling asleep after putting them to bed, which was probably good since he got a solid night of sleep. I stayed up until about 9:30 or so reading downstairs. I was dozing on and off and had a couple of faint contractions so I decided to go up to bed.
As usual I woke up in the middle of the night to pee, as did Lexi. Then around 4:00 am I woke up with a really painful contraction. I got up to pee and then tried falling back asleep, but by the time I started dozing again I had another contraction. I finally decided to get up to see if they would go away or strengthen. And since it was already 4:15 or so I figured I may as well brush my teeth before going downstairs, which then woke up Tom. I told him not to get up, but he knew better and came downstairs to keep me company. The contractions didn't go away and were about 8-9 minutes apart and strong. After about an hour or so of them I called the on call doctor to see what we should do. While we waited for the call back I had Tom call his mom to have her come stay with the kids just in case we wound up having to go in.
Dr. Shin called me back and sounded so groggy. Of course I would be too at 5:30 on a Sunday morning. She asked what my progress was at my last appointment and was surprised when I reminded her that I had none. She said to go ahead and get to the hospital, but not to be surprised if I was sent home. I was pretty sure this was the real deal - I mean I know my body well and the contractions were painful and by the time Dr. Shin had called me I was having to stop to rock and breathe through each contraction.
We got to the hospital just before 7:00 am and went up to Labor and Delivery to get checked and see if I was going to stay or be sent home. I gowned up and got in bed and was shocked to discover that I was already 6 cm and "stretchy." Of course that meant that we were staying put. The nurse started my IV so I could get my epidural in time and while the contractions were only about 10 minutes apart they seemed to be doing the job and I was able to breathe through them.
The anesthesiologist eventually came in and placed my epidural. Shortly after that Dr. Shin came in and broke my water and they placed a catheter to empty my bladder.
Once we knew we were staying and it was officially baby day, we started spreading the word to let other people know and Aunt Peggy came over to keep us company. Tom and Aunt Peggy got some breakfast and we sat around chatting for a bit.
The next time I was checked I was around 8 cm. The nurse kept checking on me and was paranoid that I'd be ready to deliver and I wouldn't know. I promised that I would be able to tell and would alert her the minute I felt like I was ready. After an hour or so I started feeling a lot of pressure build up and knew I was ready. I had Tom call in the nurse and gave Aunt Peggy a hug goodbye.
Dr. Shin came back in to check me and announced that it was indeed time to deliver. While she gowned up and the nurses got things ready for delivery and the baby, I tried my hardest to not push. Once they were ready they had me do one small practice push and then told me I could push for real with the next contraction. I pushed through two contractions and out came baby girl. Tom got to announce that it was a girl and Dr. Shin put her on my chest while Tom cut the cord. I got to hold the baby for quite some time before they took her over to the warmer to check her vitals and clean her up. Her APGAR was 9 and 9 and Tom took a lot of pictures while the nurse cleaned her up, weighed and measured her.
This was also the first time I actually saw the placenta. With all of the other babies I wasn't really paying attention after the baby came out, so I didn't even notice what was going on.
I feel like this delivery was the calmest. Besides me and Tom there was only Dr. Shin and two nurses - one for me and one for baby. After Samantha was born and she and I were cleaned up, everyone pretty much left us alone for a bit. She immediately latched on and nursed for about an hour. During that time we sent messages out to everyone to let them know we had another baby girl and Tom went to get Aunt Peggy to let her meet the peanut.
We were in the hospital for 29 hours and then came home and got settled in with our regular routine. The kids have been so happy with having a baby in the house and the biggest problem has been the arguments over who gets to hold her first and for how long.
Samantha is the perfect addition to our family. Our two Thomases were destined to be surrounded by girls.
