Evelyn Margaret, 8lbs 1oz

Evie arrived yesterday morning at 9:22 am weighing in at 8lbs 1oz, 20 inches long, and 14 inch head!

Friday I had been having contractions all day long 6-8 minutes apart (what's new?) but they started to get more and more painful. At around 5:30 pm we headed over to my mom's house to celebrate Amber and Vanessa's birthdays. The contractions kept coming through dinner and by 8 pm I wanted to do nothing but head home and lay down.

Around 10 pm something changed with the contractions and I couldn't get through them on my own anymore. Each one had me bawling and shaking like crazy. Shaun packed up the car, we stopped to pick up my mom, then we headed to the hospital. Contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart at this time.

By 11:30 we were completely checked in and settled into our hospital room. I was shaking uncontrollably and really hoping that I was dilated to at least 5cm. But no, I had made NO progress from my midwife appointment on Wednesday. All the contractions I had been having since Wednesday night had done NOTHING. I knew then that a waterbirth was out the window and I was going for the epidural.

Baby and I were monitored for about an hour before getting checked again. We had only made about half a cm of progress but the doctor on call said we could stay and get the epidural. Yay! Before getting the epidural I needed to get a liter of fluid via an IV. It took 3 different nurses before the IV was successfully placed.

But then the wonderful epidural man arrived! He got it placed between contractions so that I didn't have to sit in an uncomfortable position while in pain. I thought I'd get some sleep once the epidural was placed but I was too excited and nervous. My mom and Shaun got a few hours of sleep each, though, while I listened to my Ipod.

At 7 am the doctor checked me again and I had only made it to 5 cm. He suggested breaking my water, and if that didn't work, start pitocin. I asked him to let me have a minute to think about it since I was feeling nervous about the pitocin. He left the room and my midwife showed up 15 minutes later (just started her shift). I told her we wanted to go ahead and break my water. She checked me and said "Wow! You might be ready to start pushing as soon as we break your water!"

I ended up being about 8 cm. I went from a 5 to an 8 in 15 minutes! Yay! She broke my water and within an hour I started pushing. One hour, 15 minutes after that...Evie was born!