The Neverending labor

That is exactly what it felt like!  56.hours.of.labor.  Yes, you read that right.  Oh, and did I mention that after all of that I still ended up having a C-section.  Awesome.  Now, don't be jealous.  It is a long story, but the long and short of it is that I started having contractions at Peter Piper Pizza at around 8 p.m on Monday, October 1st. I didn't say anything; I didn't want to get everyone excited for nothing.  The contractions weren't too bad and I was sure they would go away because my due date wasn't until the 3rd and first babies always come late, right??  David had to work the next day so he went to be early as normal.  At around 10 p.m. that night, the contractions had not subsided and seemed to be becoming more frequent and stronger.  I began timing them at that point and by midnight they were three minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds.  I thought I should probably wake up David at that point.  We called my parents and they drove with us to the hospital.  When they finally took me back and checked to see how dilated I was (only 2 cent. at that point) they decided that because my water hadn't broken and I wasn't dilated very much that I should go home and see what happens.  Nice.  Mind you I hadn't slept in close to 36 hours if not more at that point.  So, to help me sleep they gave me Ambien.  I was ok with this.  I just needed sleep.

I feel at this point it is important to point out that Ambien is great for helping you sleep if you go to sleep and stay asleep for 8 hours.  If, however, you happen to be having contractions every three minutes that are waking  you up, Ambien only makes you think you are CRAZY.  Being awake with Ambien in your system = very bad.  So much for the sleep that I so desperately needed at that point.

I called my doctor on Tuesday morning and she said to sick it out the whole day and go back to the hospital at around 8 that evening.  So, as you can imagine, a full day of contractions every 3 minutes or so was not the most fun experience.

When 8 p.m. rolled around and we headed back to the hospital.  They finally took me back at around 10 p.m. and when the doctor checked me; I was only dilated to 3!  They wanted to send me home AGAIN but before they did, they called my doctor (thank God!).  She told them to have me walk the hospital for an hour and then check me again.  If I had progressed at all they were to admit me.  At this point I was so over being in labor.  But, alas, I walked, and walked, and walked.  In the end, after an hour, I had progress to 3.5 (whoop-dee-freakin'-do) and they admitted me.

I was placed into the Taj Mahal of labor and delivery rooms (seriously could have fit 12 people in there), and I begged for an epidural at that point. Two hours later, I received it. Can I just say that the epidural man is my favorite person in the world.

I experienced instant relief, and David and I were finally able to get some sleep.  My parents hung the entire time and David's mom came down too once I was in a room.  They were real troopers.