Last Sunday I awoke at 4:30 am with what I “thought” might be my water leaking. Why wasn’t I sure? It was just a little fluid…it wasn’t gushing out of me but rather just a steady stream that would come and go every few hours but it was enough that I had to get up a couple of times. I wasn’t having any cramping so I fell back asleep each time, finally at 7 am I got up for good and started thinking that was a bit strange as it kept happening, so I called labor and delivery up at St. Mark’s. She told me it might be my water leaking and I should come in if it continues to leak and doesn’t stop….another sure sign that you are going into labor and that it’s indeed your water is when it keeps happening throughout many hours and doesn’t go away. However I wanted to give it awhile, it was such a beautiful day that day and I didn’t want to needlessly go to the hospital just to be sent home.

So that morning, Mike and I cleaned the house, we went grocery shopping, took Jack to the park. It was a normal Sunday just as any other Sunday. I even got a nap in after we put Jack down for one so that was an added bonus. Finally around 2:30 pm, after procrasintating all that I could – it was time to head to St. Mark’s and have an examination, though at this point I never considered I was actually going into labor. Mike was running around the house like crazy – packing our bags, getting our cameras ready, getting Jack packed up. Finally I said – “Don’t take the bags. We will be coming home, I know it’s NOT my water leaking. It’s to early to have this baby.”

(yes, apparently I wasn’t thinking that I was only 2 days away from my due date – to early???)

We got to the hospital around 3:00 pm that afternoon, after being checked it was decided that it was definitely my amniotic fluid and I would be admitted to the hospital.  As soon as we were given the news that I was being admitted, I broke down in tears, not just a few tears but crying rather profusely. I couldn’t believe it was here – I was scared, excited and nervous and yes, scared remained at the top of my list. I don’t know why – but all of a sudden – it was here, this day and this moment and I was a bit overwhelmed. All this anticipation was finally coming full circle. Mike hugged me tight and wiped my tears and told me everything was going to be just fine. So I took a deep breath and said “OK…..today is the day.”

After I got a hold of myself,  I dialed my parents house in CA, told them we were getting ready to have this baby. My mom jumped on the last plane out of CA to SLC that evening and got the last seat on the plane, I guess it was meant to be. She walked into our room about 9:30 pm..plenty of time before the baby. My dad flew up the next day.

Things progressed quickly after that, the contractions progressively got stronger and stronger and by 5:30 I was breathing through them but still walking around, unpacking and taking photos. During this time, I thought back and forth about the epidural – whether or not to have it and what experience I wanted with “this” baby. Every birth is so different and that is what is so beautiful because every child is so different. So I decided to embrace a new experience and try the epidural for this birth. Around 7:30 the epidural was given and at this point I was about 6 cm dilated.

The procedure for getting the epidural was very invasive for me….I hated being hooked up everywhere…blood pressure pump, IV, epidural line, catheter, even the baby was hooked up to a monitor by pinning a tiny pin in the baby’s head to track the heartbeat. That is 5 lines running through me and into me. See, to compare this, when I gave birth to Jack – I didn’t have anything hooked up to me besides a blood pressure pump so it took a bit of getting used to.

Around midnight I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. It all happened so fast after that. I pushed for 13 minutes and that was it! I had pushed for over 2 1/2 hours with Jack so I couldn’t believe how quickly it happened…before I knew it Dr Yamashiro was telling me to stop pushing and with Mike in front of Dr Yamashiro and with Dr Yamashiro’s guidance, Mike pulled out the baby..it felt like there was a 5 minute lapse as everyone was checking to see the sex of the baby and finally Mike called out “it’s a boy, it’s a boy.” and we just all started crying – my mom was hugging and kissing me, they were handing the baby to me, I just looked at this perfect little angel and with tears streaming down my face kissed him and kissed him and held him close. It was a beautiful experience and part of me wishes I could relive that moment again and again.