So it all begins on Thursday the 11th. I was feeling kind of blah and not too social and figuring I wasn't going to have this baby until Monday when we were scheduled to be induced. I was reading my birth forums on babycenter.com when I came upon a list of "pre-labor" symptoms. As I read through them I realized that I was experiencing about 6 of the 10. Still, I figured nothing was going to happen anytime soon.
So we all go to sleep around 10pm and I have a contraction that wakes me up, but I didn't think too much of it as I had had a few of those in the last few nights. I figure if I have another one then Ill start timing them. Well shortly after that I feel a pop and my water burst. This is by far the weirdest feeling ever. I immediately grabbed Clayton's arm and exclaim...'oh my god! My water just broke'. I was totally shocked and half off the bed since I was trying to protect our mattress. Clayton leapt out of bed and asked me 'ok what do we need to do?' Im all 'you have to pack some pants and your toothbrush and my hair stuff. oh but first we should call the hospital and let them know we are coming and I need to jump in the shower.'
I was thinking that I had hours until I would deliver since even though your water breaks you dont necessarily go into labor right away...I thought we had plenty of time. So Clayton calls the hospital and exclaims 'Im Clayton Rodgers, my wife's name is Jennifer Rodgers and her water broke so we are coming in. Do you need any other information?!' I have to give Clayton total credit for remaining calm and grabbing everything we needed..like the cameras and our hospital bag and getting everything in the car, including me, as well as sending out some emails to work and setting up his out of office notice...all in 15 minutes. I was giggling the whole time because it was the most surreal experience ever. Clayton's mom was thankfully staying with us 'just in case' so she could watch Casey as we rushed off to the hospital.
We were on the road by 12:50. Except that we did stop to take the garbage to the curb cause as I stated at the time 'we would regret missing the garbage pickup'. Clayton asked how fast he needed to drive since the hospital was 20 minutes away. I reassured him that I was fine and would not be having this baby on the side of I-5, though I started to get painful contractions as soon as we left the house and they were only 2 minutes apart.
We arrived at the hospital at 1:05 and Clayton wheeled me into triage. And just so the story is clear...my water is still gushing out. I cant imagine the horrifying experience some women go through when their water breaks at say Target or McDonalds. So they get me into the gown, into bed, and all hooked up to the monitors. There was some debate on whether or not I was Group B Strep + or -. I knew I was -, but some yahoo messed up my file and said I was +. Not a big deal, but if I don't need antibiotics added to my IV, then I prefer not to have them. It was cleared up, that I was in fact negative, about 2 seconds after the nurse hooked up the Penicillin.
So they monitored me for a bit and sure enough the contractions are really starting to hurt at this point and when asked if I want the Epidural, the answer is an emphatic, 'hells ya'. They then assign me a room and send me on my way upstairs. As soon as we get in the room, my nurse checks me and im already 4cm. Its about 2am and im ready for that epidural. Nurse Erin goes ahead and orders it, and of course the dude is in another room. Thankfully I am next in line. Around 2:30 I am in so much pain that I puke. Fun Stuff. And finally the Epi guy shows up and I have my epidural around 3am. It works this time. After about 10 minutes the nurse says that she is going to start setting up the room for delivery. She doenst just 'casually' go about it, she is practically sprinting. She checks me again around 3:30 and Im already 10cm. Apparently she has called my Doctor to get the hell down here.
So my Doctor, who is the sweetest man you could find, shows up in the most wrinkled scrubs I can imagine. They must have been in his glove box or something. And his hair is all kinds of bed head. He promply went to the sink to wet it down after catching a glimpse of himself. He immediately started putting on the rubber delivery gown and bed is broken down. Apparently this baby is coming right now. I feel intense pressure but nothing that says I have to push. I figure I am going to be pushing for an hour or so. He then says, with this next contractions why dont you try a push...and I do...and once I start, I cant stop because the pain is unbelievable. I push him out in one gigantic push. Welcome Jordan at 3:55am. Water break to Delivery was only 3.5 hours. This is how labor should be.
