Finally have a chance to write a little bit about how the birth went. Well, as you all know it all started early Friday morning at about 12:30 with some cramping which lasted a few hours. I tried to sleep but no dice, they were just too uncomfortable. At the time I was irritated because in all of my reading and in the birth class I had never heard of this kind of cramping being associated with early labor. I was waiting for the contractions I had heard so much about, the ones that were 5 to 10 minutes apart and gave you a break in between. When the contractions did start at about 3:30am I was pretty happy for the breaks, but they were only about a minute long. At around 4:30am Adam called the birthing center and asked if we should come in. I talked with the nurse between contractions (they were already getting pretty strong by that time), and she suggested that we wait an hour and call back. So I bounced on my birthing ball for an hour, then got ready for the hospital (BTW- for all you pregnant girls out there- GET the exercise ball for your labor. It really helps make the contractions more comfortable. I don't know what I would have done without it! Its also great for bouncing baby later when he's gassy and fussy, just wait until your bottom is fully healed- I think I may have popped some stiches that way :( )

We arrived at the hospital around 6am and were immediately traiged. I was hooked up to an external fetal monitor and the baby seemed to be doing just fine. I, however, was in some serious pain. The nurse said my contractions were unusually strong and frequent, especially since I was only dialated to 2. "Only dialated to 2!" I thought with frustration. This didn't seem right at all! The pain was way too intense, and the thought of having to wait to dialate 8 more centimeters and suffer through transition before we could get to the business of pushing this kid out was very upsetting. I was already getting tired because the contractions were getting stronger and was having a hard time staying relaxed in between. The nurse said that I had actually made some good progress since just the week before I was far from full efacement (for those of you ignorant in the child bearing process, your cervix has to thin out, or eface, 100% then dialate 10 centimers before you can begin to push the kid out). She admitted us and even gave us the choice of which room we wanted, she made my "A list" pretty quick!

We opted for the large corner suite with the deep soak tube. Once there, I immediately got in the tub hoping for some relief. The tub was awesome, just as good as the ball, and I soaked in that for awhile while listening to Built to Spill, Perfect From Now On (perfect for the labor process in my humble opinion). The contractions still kept coming harder though, and got so bad I was crying through them. So my nurse decided it was time for a check. Had to get out of the tub and onto the bed for this, and let me tell you suffering through a contraction on the bed hurt like a sonofabitch! And I was only at 3. I was so frustrated. Decided to get back on the ball, and the nurse hooked me back up to the external monitor. Since the contrations were so intense she was afraid that it might be stressing the baby. But the baby was doing just fine, having no problems at all. I decided that my son must have a sadistic streak in him at that point. There were even times where it appeared that he was sound asleep without a care in the world. Emery has always seemed to be partial to The Shins (he always squirmed real good when I put them on, which was pretty frequent since they are one of my favorite bands), so Adam decided we should listen to them for awhile in the effort to try to coax him out. Meanwhile my mom, totally beside herself but trying not to show it, was trying to make me feel better by telling me that surely I was past the halfway point. Oh how I wanted to believe that!

Finally decided to try out the tub again. It was okay, again no better than the ball, but the contractions just wouldn't let up. At no time since the beginning of labor did I have more than 2 minute intervals between contractions, and since you count from the beginning of the contraction to the next for the interval, I only got a maximum of about a minute and a half of rest in between. Then came some very intense contractions that lasted for 2 minutes with about 30 seconds in between and I lost it. I couldn't take it anymore. Mom called the nurse and told her it was time to call in the troops.

I got out of the tub and got checked again- only 4 centimeters! I was distrought. The nurse said that the baby had done some good traveling down the birth canal and not to get too bummed, progress was being made. I then asked the nurse what my options were for pain control and if it was too soon to get an epidural. She knew I had a huge fear of needles and wanted to respect the fact that I was trying to go natural, which I appreciated. But when she said she thought I would be a good candidate for the epidural and thought it would be good because I could get some rest before I needed to push, I was sold. I think everyone in the room was relieved, I could only imagine what it would be like having to watch someone go through that kind of pain and not be able to do anything about it. My friend Amy was soooo right when she said that when it came right down to it I wouldn't care if the needle looked like an elephant gun, I would be happy to have the epidural.

Unfortunately once one decides to get the epidural, it takes at least an hour before you get any relief. They have to stick an IV in you, which in my opinion was the hardest and most painful part of the process- man I hate needles! You have to be pumped with at least 500 ml of saline before you can get the shot. Then you have to wait for the anesthesiologist.

The process took awhile since my contractions were so close together. He had to wait for them to subside while he worked his magic. In that time we learned that the inventor of the epidural was actually a doctor from the University of Washington. He was a short little Sicilian immigrant who worked his way through med school by competing in circus style wrestling. Our anesthesiolgist got to meet and work with him in fact, which made me feel even better about his credentials. I mean, you don't want just anybody sticking a catheter between the vertebrae of your spine. Anyway, at about 11:30 am I began to get some relief- after over an hour of having to labor through contractions on the bed ( if anyone has ever been in the kind of pain where you pray to just leave you body behind then you have some kind of idea how painful childbirth can be- not something for the guys, that's for sure. Only a woman could handle that kind of pain!) After the anesthesiologist dosed me a couple of times that sweet sweet epidural began to take effect. I decided I was going to track down that Sicilian doctor and thank him from the bottom of my heart- he deserves a dedicated monument or at least street named after him. I told the nurse that I couldn't understand why women put themselves through that kind of pain to give birth drug free, she replied that that wasn't the first time she'd heard that from a woman who'd just had the epidural.

Just about the time I started getting some relief I recieved a visit from my coworkers Michel and Nikole. I was glad they came when they did, if they had come any earlier they would have encountered a whole other Carrie. So I got to converse with them for a few minutes before the nurses had to stick a catheter into my bladder. I knew this was going to have to happen and it was just one more reason I didn't want an epidural, but by the time they did it I really didn't care. As long as I was pain free I really didn't care what they did to me!

After that we all tried to get some rest. Mom and Adam got some sleep, and I tried but with no success. For most of the next hours I could still feel my contractions, but I didn't want to dose myself up too much because I wanted to feel my contrations for pushing. Little did I know just how long it was going to take before that would happen. I did get some good rest in though. At about the time I was beginning to get super bored (everyone was asleep and all I could do was lay there), Kara came! Super cool Laura drove down to the airport and picked her up so she got to the hospital just as soon as possible. It was good to see my best best friend, and now I felt ready to have this kid.

At about 6:00pm Greg got to the hospital with camera in hand. I was checked again, still only at 6 centimeters. After waiting all day I was getting pretty sick laying in bed and waiting to hit 10 centimeters. The only good news was that the baby was very low in the birth canal. All I needed was to get to 10 and would be set.

Some more coworkers, Millie and Gail, came to visit and brought some more distraction which was greatly appreciated. Laura brought by a grocery bag of goodies for everyone, and I salivated over the grapes, brie and other delights offered- the ice chips just weren't cuttin' it anymore. I started to obsess about sparkling water and orange juice. Then Greg and Adam went to post on the blog and get some fresh air while I tried to get some more rest.

Finally, at about 9:00pm I almost hit 10 centimeters. By this time I was READY to get the show on the road. Even though she could still feel a bit of my cervix she said it was okay to start pushing. Now I had a mission. In my mind I had the goal of getting this kid out within the hour, all I could think about was those grapes and OJ as my reward- the thought of finally getting to see Emery still seemed too abstract. As I started pushing I found that I was quite good at it, now that there was something I could finally do. Kara took one leg, Mom the other, and held them in a horizontal squat during each contraction as I beared down. Adam was on ice chips duty in between contractions and kept watch of the monitor to tell me when to expect the next contraction. He was a fantastic cheerleader. Greg hung out on the sidelines cheering me on and taking pictures (not suitable for blogging...).

With each contraction everyone was cheering me on, telling me how good I was doing. The more they cheered, the harder I pushed. And when my pushing was most effective, I could tell by my cheer section. Soon my doctor arrived, the baby station was set up, and I knew I was close. They tried to set up a mirror so I could see how close I was, but after looking once I got bummed that I couldn't see more so I stopped looking and just focused on the pushing. Then I could feel the head almost out and I knew that it was close. The next thing I knew the head was out and with one more push the shoulders and the rest of him was out. I looked up to see Dr. McKee cutting the cord and was worried because Adam was suppose to "catch and cut", but she informed me that he was too busy jumping and dancing around to get the focus needed for such a task. I wish I could have seen that :)...

They immediately put him on my chest and I got to see my beautiful son for the first time. He was a little blue but so incredibly gorgeous I barely noticed, until they quickly wisked him away to the baby station. That's when I noticed there were even more people in the room. The pediatrition and a couple other people were working over him, giving him oxygen and cleaning him up. I was worried that something was wrong, but Dr. McKee assured me that everything was just fine. I passed the placenta and the doctor told me I had a very small tear she needed to stitch. So I watched all of the action over at the baby station until they finally brought over Emery to be with his Mommy again. I couldn't believe how beautiful he was (still can't sometimes)! Even with his little cone head he was the most perfect thing I had ever seen. And I forgot all about the sparking water and OJ. :)