I last updated after my 37 week appointment on December 3rd wondering if I would make it to my 38 week check-up on December 10th. Well, I did make it, but just barely. I had been having contractions for weeks and quite often more than 4 an hour, so I was constantly trying to figure out if the next set of contractions would be the ones to send me to the hospital. Everyone told me that I would know when I needed to go to the hospital, but the issue was that I wanted that 3-4 hour window of textbook time where I labor at home before going to the hospital so I could call my mom to fly here from Louisiana and make in time to be my second labor coach. So I anxiously waited day by day, timing my contractions, marking off the days on the calendar.

On Sunday December 9th, my contractions were still no more painful than cramps, but they were coming every 10-15 minutes without stopping all day long, but I still didn't want to tell my mom to jump on a flight because this had happened before and they still weren't getting "longer, stronger, closer together." Then that night, they did get a little stronger - not too painful, but I couldn't sleep much through them. And I was getting excited. But still, they did not come any closer together than 10 minutes apart. I was up most of the night and on Monday December 10th, I went to my 3:15pm 38 week OB appointment expecting that I would be even more dilated than the 2 cm I had been previously. We even packed the car in case they wanted us to go straight to the hospital. But, no dice. They checked me and said I was 2 cm, maybe 2.5 cm if they stretched it. And the fact that the contractions were coming regularly didn't matter - they needed to be 5 minutes apart and so strong that I couldn't talk through them. My doc even said that I probably shouldn't count on having my mom be able to make it in time because it is so difficult to determine when to make that phone call.

Disappointed, we went home. It was about 5:30 pm and so we napped for about 2 hours. When I got up, I was bleeding a little and my contractions were slightly stronger, though I could still walk and talk through them. We called the OB and they said to come on to the hospital to get the bleeding checked out, even though it was most likely just from checking my cervix earlier. We got to the hospital around 9:30 pm - I made sure to eat A LOT before going - and found out that I was now 3-3.5 cm dilated, but they didn't want to put me in a labor room until I was 4 cm. So they had Jason and I walk around the hospital for an hour to see if any change happened. We walked until about 12:30 am, but there was no change to my cervix, so they sent us home. When we started walking, my contractions were the same, but towards the end, I was having to stop walking, hold on to Jason and breathe through them, so I really thought I was progressing. We were surprised that they sent us home. The nurse said we could end up back at the hospital in a few hours or a few days, but Jason felt strongly that it would be sooner rather than later, so we told my mom to come on!

We got back home again by 1:30 am (Tuesday, Dec 11th now) and my mom made arrangements to get on the first flight out from Baton Rouge at 7 am even though we weren't sure it was time. Within half an hour, I had a contraction that made me shout for it to stop and then the next one made me cry. Jason said, "this is it!" and started timing and noting down my contractions on a paper plate!!

By 4:00 am, they were 4-5 minutes apart and I was screaming through each one and begging for some sort of relief. Each contraction lasted 45 secs to a minute, so we tried to do things in each of the pain free three minute windows I had. Jason would warn me each time, "ok, you're about to have another one." We got to the hospital in less than 10 minutes and I thought I'd be more reserved in public, but the contractions only got stronger and I was not even remotely hesitant to scream, shout, and get on the floor in front of anyone and everyone. We checked in at the front desk and I told the administrative assistant that I needed an epidural and proceeded to tell anyone and everyone that looked even remotely important that I needed an epidural. So much for waiting it out! By 5:30 am, I had my epidural and life was SOOOO much better, but before that it really felt like I wasn't gonna make it. Jason could not have done a better job coaching me through that pain. He held me, reminded me to breathe, told me I was doing a great job, and prepared me for the next contraction.

It was nothing like tv - I didn't scream mean things at Jason or say anything I needed to apologize for. I just held his hand tight and screamed through each contraction. I asked Jason to count the 45 seconds out loud for me during each contraction and a couple of times I shouted, "COUNT FASTER!!!" as if that would make the contraction end faster. I also kept talking to myself in between contractions, trying to feel more in control, and of course i had a bazillion questions for my nurse. I'm not sure why and I don't think I'll ever know, but she thought I was hilarious. She said she was having quite a good time with me and I was very entertaining and she said that was a good thing cause she was tired and ready to go home and needed a couple of laughs.

Around 9:30 am, the nurse checked my cervix and said I was only 5 cm dilated and the contractions were not strong enough so they wanted to consider giving me pitocin. I said ABSOLUTELY NO - I wanted to wait it out. They kept implying that it would be necessary, but I had learned from my classes and reading that they would try to get me out of there as fast as possible and I would need to stand my ground. The doc agreed to give it another hour. By that point, my Dad, who happened to be in Atlanta on business, picked my Mom from the airport and they were heading to the hospital. At 10:30 am, the doc came back to determine whether they were going to recommend pitocin and when he checked me, I was 9 cm dilated!!! He said, "Whoa! You'll be ready to push in about an hour!" My parents walked in the door a couple of minutes later so they made it in plenty of time to help me deliver!!!

The nurse began setting everything up for me to get my baby out and by 12:30 pm, we were pushing! Jason was on one side, my mom on the other, my dad was on the other side of the room, and the nurse was at my feet helping me adjust my legs when necessary since they were so numb. She was a great nurse and she talked me through the pushes and did my 3 counts of 10 and kept telling me what a good job I was doing. She could feel the baby's head and when she told me he had a full head of hair, I started sobbing because I was so happy and I knew I was going to have my little Kale in my arms very soon. She asked Jason if he wanted to see the baby's head and he managed to shake his head no without passing out. Jason was amazing - it was very hard for him to stay standing there and watch me in pain and watch all the icky stuff happening, but he did it. He was there for me by my side as a perfect coach. My mom was a great coach too and she was in tears the whole time. It was amazing. Just when I thought I couldn't do it anymore, the nurse shouted, "don't push, he's here so we need the doctor now." Pushing was so hard, but NOT pushing was even harder. The doc came and at 2:12 pm on December 11th, a perfect little boy was born. He was beautiful. I held him for the first time but it felt like he'd been with me a lifetime. I knew him and loved him and he was mine.

He scored a 9 out of 10 on his APGAR and after cleaning him up for a few minutes, the nurses let me have him to nurse him and bond with him right away before taking him to the nursery. He latched on beautifully and with my skin touching his skin, we both just stared at each other and a bond was formed. Kale was born 7 lbs 3 ounces and measured 20.25 inches. He had absolutely none of the typical newborn qualities we had learned about in class - he was beautiful.