I was due with my baby on Tuesday, November 16. On Thursday, November 17, I went to the bathroom at 3am and after I emptied my bladder, I felt a gush of liquid that wasn't urine. I had two contractions that morning: one at 4:00am, one at 7:00am. I was really excited to finally see my baby. Since my mother had had very quick labors (between 4-6 hours for all three babies), and I had had an uneventful pregnancy, I thought that once active labor started, I would be in and out of the hospital. Little did I know that it would take 48 hours, with 38 of them in the hospital for Clara Luisa to be born. 

I had an appointment Thursday afternoon at 3pm with my ob/gyn, Celine. I told Celine that I thought my bag of waters had been leaking, but fearing that she would want to put me in the hospital before labor had truly started, I didn't give her a specific time. While I was at the doctor's office, my amniotic fluid really started to gush. By that time I was having contractions about 7-10 minutes apart. Celine told me that she thought I would go into the hospital later that night, around midnight. By midnight, the contractions were regularly 3 minutes apart. I was laboring comfortably at home. Without any frame of reference, I thought, "This really isn't very painful, it's quite manageable." With contractions that were 3 minutes apart and my bag of waters leaking, I thought that I would go in and I would be at least 6 cm dialated (I was focusing too much on numbers, and on the idea of "progress" and on the ideal of a "quick labor." To my suprise, when they finally checked me, I was only 1cm. They checked me in to the hospital because I had been strep B positive. I know believe that that diagnosis made the pivotal difference in how my birth progressed. 

My doula, Pat, met Rock and me at the hospital. After the nurse opened an IV line, I was able to walk around freely to deal with the contractions, which were still regular. I was dilating very slowly. Periodically they would check me, or monitor the baby's heart beat and everything was going well. By Friday at 4pm, my parents had arrived at the hospital from Virginia. They were convinced that by the time they arrived I would have a baby. I had been at around 4 cm for 3 hours. At one point Celine offered to give me a sleeping pill and send me home. I thought about it, and knowing that my mother would be there, and thinking that she would be very invasive, I decided to stay at the hospital. I wish now that I had gone home and let things progress on there own. At around 8pm my mother asked to come in to see me. Although our relationship is good, she can be quite invasive, so I hadn't wanted her present for the whole thing. I agreed that she could come in, but said I wanted her out fast. At that point, I was still at 4 cm, and my contractions had spread out to about every 11 minutes apart. She came in and wouldn't leave. I got angry and it jump started my labor again! Pretty strong contractions began coming about every 3 minutes apart again. 

At around 11pm I was at 5 cm, and Celine convinced us that Pitocin was a good idea. Pat said that it was up to me, but given how slowly everything was progressing, it seemed like a solid course of action. They started me at a low dose because I was afraid of the contractions being too hard to deal with. By this time I had been in what I thought was active labor for about 40 hours. I continued to labor through the night, eating and drinking what I wanted. The only time that I remember the contractions being truly "painful" was when I sat on the toilet. At one point I threw up while on the toilet. Now I think that I should have spent more time on the toilet! Rock and Pat were great through it all. Celine would come in and out, but didn't stay long. That was fine with me. Though I had a good relationship with my doctor, I felt good with my husband and with my doula. 

Finally, at 7:30 Saturday morning, I was fully dilated. I started to push, and it was a great relief. I felt like I could really channel all of the pain into work. I kept thinking of myself skiing down a powder, mogul filled mountain, working, breathing hard, but making it to the bottom. After 3 and a half hours of pushing, Clara was born at 11:10am. When Clara was born, we were both tired. She had an incredible cone-shaped head after being so long in the birth canal. I thought she was beautiful. She pooped meconium on my stomach and I thought it smelled great! My senses were incredibly heightened. I had a slight tear, which they stiched up. My doula, Pat, thinking it was all over, and having been at the hospital with me from 1am Friday morning until 11am Saturday morning, returned home to her family. 

After the baby was comfortably laying on my chest, she began licking my breasts, while I tried to coax her on. She was tired. We waited an hour, and the placenta still hadn't delivered. I know now that my uterus was overstimulated and tired from the pitocin. Celine looked at me and said that she would have to manually extract the placenta. She asked me if I wanted Stadol since it would be very painful. I asked her if it would affect my milk. When she said no, I took the stadol in my still open IV. While they washed the baby off, Rock watched her, and heard me screaming as Celine put her thin arm inside of me. The placenta sheared in the process and I started to bleed heavily. They would have to put me under (with twilight sleep) in order to get the rest of the placenta out. Finally, only 45 minutes after the baby had been delivered, we were both together in the same bed. Rock. While she slept, I watched her thinking how incredible she was.