Labor wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.... I had been very afraid of the pain and how I would handle things. However, when I realized I was in labor, it was as though I became a totally different person. Instinctively, I knew what to do to handle what was going on and I didn't flip out or yell and scream like I thought I would.

On Tuesday, January 8th, one of our cats had a vet appointment. The vet came in and jokingly asked if he had to rush things. I told him not to worry, I would let him know if I needed to leave! After that appointment, we went home and Shawn made his homemade pizza. I amazed myself with how much I ate. It was as though I had all of a sudden developed a bottomless pit where my stomach once was. I think I ate a whole pizza (cookie sheet size!) by myself!

Around 7 p.m. or so, I noticed that I was having lower back pain. The pain was exactly like the cramps I would get when I had my period. But then I realized that the pain was coming and going, not constant... so I wondered if I was perhaps having contractions. I saw my best friend online and she asked if I was having contractions and when I said I thought I was, she immediately signed off and called me! She swore I was in labor and thought it was awesome that our sons would have the same birthday.

I went to bed around 10 figuring I'd get as much rest as possible. I had slept very poorly the night before because of a cold I developed and knew I'd need my rest if I truly was in labor. I fell asleep pretty easily but kept waking up to go to the bathroom and each time I woke up, I was in pain...it was pretty uncomfortable. At 12:50 a.m., I woke up to Shawn getting back into bed and asked him what he was still doing home. He would get up at 3 a.m. to be at work for 4 a.m. and I felt that it was that late in the night. When I found out what time it really was, I was shocked. I told Shawn that I thought I might be in labor. He didn't think so and went right back to sleep. It was this time that I realized I was in labor. The pain was more frequent and was really starting to hurt. I let my hubby sleep while I did things to try and deal with the labor. I walked around the house, I knelt on the floor over the ottoman in my living room trying to ease the pain from my back, and tried a bath. This lasted two hours. Just before 3 a.m., I woke Shawn up and told him that I thought this was it... and after only being awake a few minutes, he realized that the contractions were coming pretty close together. At that time, they were very close together but were irregular in their intensity. So I called my doctor and he said to go to the hospital and get checked.

After eating a sandwich because I know they won't feed you at the hospital while you are in labor, I got to the hospital around 4 a.m. They got me settled, checked me, and found that I was in labor (duh!) and dialated four centimeters. They checked me again within the hour and I was up to five centimeters and they then moved me to a room. In there, things slowed down and I was stuck at five centimeters for several hours. They gave me Nubain which to help take the edge off the contractions and that worked for awhile but when it wore off, I decided to get an epidural if I hadn't progressed enough. Well, I was still at five centimeters so I decided on the epidural!

The epidural was the worst part of labor and delivery. It took four or five tries for them to get it right! I apparently have a deep spinal cavity and the anesthesia was not getting to the right area and I could feel them putting the catheder in me. It hurt like nothing I can describe. I cried and yelled this time because it felt like they were jamming a straw through my back. It was terrible. Finally, they said they would try one last time if I wanted. I said okay, but last time. Thankfully, it worked!

They got the epidural in, started pitocin so the epidural wouldn't slow things down, and got me settled in to rest. My mom and Shawn went for something to eat. A short time later, the baby's heart rate dropped and I got very scared. A lot of people came rushing into the room to check on him but then his heart rate when right back up. Within two minutes at the most of this happening, I could feel a lot of pressure like something was pushing down on my pelvic bone continually. The doc came back and I was at ten centimeters. In hindsight, Clayton's heart rate dropped as he was turning into position to come out!

They told me they would page Shawn if he didn't come back in time but he got there very soon after. I asked what took him so long because we were waiting for him! I was SO afraid of pushing. This was what I was most afraid of because I didn't know if I could do it. I remember thinking that I had to push a baby out of my body and being terrified of the pain that it might cause. However, like labor, pushing him out was not as bad as I thought it would be. I ended up pushing for about an hour and a half but a lot of that was the fact that I didn't know how to push right. Once I got it down, he was out! He was born at 1:36 p.m. with my soap opera, Days of Our Lives, playing on the T.V.

Looking back, giving birth to my son was the MOST enjoyable experience of my life. Sure, I was very tired and I had to deal with some pain. But it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I did it. I did it well. My son arrived healthy. I did the most important job of my life and it was wonderful. It was an experience that I will never forget and am looking forward to doing again.

Welcome to the world my sweet boy. Mommy loves you more than you could imagine...