Baby Holden's Birth Story

I woke up on October 30th achy and having contractions every so often. But that was nothing new. I had woken up many mornings with these same feelings and we had just been to the doctor the day before with no hopeful news of baby H coming anytime soon. I had consigned myself to another week of torturous pregnancy before it would go down in a flame of induction. Then around 5pm I started having contractions more consistently. Pretty much every 30 minutes on the dot. But again, I didn't want to believe this could be it. So the hubby went to the night class he's taking at UCLA without hesitation from either of us. I threw on some Big Bang Theory and worked on the canvas painting I was making for Orange Seed's room and started timing the contractions just in case. Then at 10pm, the contractions jumped to being only 5-10 minutes apart. When the hubby got out of class at 10:15p and called me I told him there was a chance we would be going to the hospital so he better hurry home. Before actually heading to the hospital we waited for the contractions to be 5-7 minutes apart for an hour. Then once it was evident this was the real thing I took a shower and made the bed. Then just before we left I asked the hubby to clean the kitchen. He thought I was joking since about every 5 minutes I was in enough pain that I couldn't speak. But what can I say? I hate coming home to a messy house. It was worth the pain. By the time we made the super bumpy (aka super painful) freeway ride to the hospital the contractions were only 3 minutes apart. When they checked me I was 4 centimeters dilated and so they admitted me immediately. The hubby and I were pretty surprised by how quiet the hospital was. There was no hustling and bustling about as you see in the movies. And I'm almost certain we were the only ones in the maternity wing. So we whipped out our birth plan and the nurse whipped out the IV. Which was terrible. But that meant I was on my way to getting the epidural which would put an end to the getting to be unbearable contractions. At one point I even started shaking uncontrollably and had to try with all my might not to throw up. And then the guy with the really big needle came into the room. I should first explain that I had been dreading the delivery and epidural with almost the same amount of fear. The same fear that had me sobbing to the hubby just a few nights before. And this was all before they informed me that the hubby couldn't be in the room while they were doing the epi. So my fear got turned up another notch or two. And just as my hubby walked out the door I started to pray. And didn't really stop until it was all over. And I am positive that is why I had absolutely no pain while getting the epidural. I didn't even feel the pressure they say you should. And then twenty minutes later I felt no pain from the contractions. Which was just as blissful as everyone says it is. But what they don't tell you is it makes you SUPER itchy. Everywhere, not just your lower half. Also they forget to mention that you can still wiggle your toes and FEEL them. Which freaked me out because if you can feel your toes wouldn't you still be able to feel the immense pain that was about to come? Anyway, then the nurse left us for pretty much the entire rest of the night. Which was about 5 hours of trying to sleep. Partway through my water broke which was a super weird sensation. But boy am I glad I wasn't at the store or church or something when it happened. Then at 6am I started feeling a lot of pressure down low in my pelvis. I tried to sleep through it and at 7am my doc came to check in with me. Turns out I was ready to start pushing! So the doc and one nurse started getting things ready (again not the crazy 10 people experience I was imagining). And in 20 minutes I began to push little H out. I had prepared myself for the 2 hours of excruciating pain that first timers usually experience. But 30 minutes later of intense but not completely  unbearable pain I had the most beautiful baby boy on my chest. At this point I was expecting a flow of tears. But none came. Immediately I wondered if this made me a bad mother. But then I realized it just hadn't sunk it yet. It felt too surreal. It was too amazing to have actually happened. I felt like a true woman and honestly felt so proud of myself for overcoming my greatest fear. I had been dreading the epi and delivery since finding out that's how babies came into the world. And even more so since getting prego. And I DID it. And more than that - he was HEALTHY. He had ten fingers and ten toes and scored a 9.9 out of 10 on the Apgar scale. He was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Since then we've been soaking up all things baby these past almost two weeks and it has been nothing short of amazing. I feel like I'm on a permanent love high for this little one. I honestly wasn't prepared for how obsessed I would be about every single detail of his being. And I don't see that ending any time soon.