may seventeenth two thousand eleven.

As my due date was drawing nearer I found myself wondering what Ethans birth story would be. 

A girlfriend of mine told me that is one of her favorite things about being done with your pregnancy, is being able to have an awesome and totally individual birth story. 

I knew that the women in my family typically had long, hard and unproductive labors so I knew I was in for it. 

At my 40 week check up my Dr. informed me that I was 1cm dilated and 60% effaced. So not much action happening but hey, at least all those braxton hicks I had been feeling were doing something. This was on Thursday. 

By Saturday night my contractions were consistent but not getting any worse. 

We decided on Sunday to call the Dr. since it had been 24 hours of consistent  contractions. 

They told me to come in to labor and delivery to be monitored. 

Brandon was sitting on our bed when I told him it may be time and all he could say was..

 but I just put our sheets in the wash! 

It was adorable. 

We grabbed all our stuff and headed out.

My Dr. had previously scheduled me for an induction the following Tuesday so I thought there would be no way they would let me go home if I showed any signs at all of being in labor. 

Well... we got there. Checked in. I got checked out. Still at 1 cm. My contractions were coming really fast but didn't hurt. I think I had like 20 something in a 25 minute span.. it was crazy. 

But alas.. after walking the halls for an hour straight I progressed no further and was sent home. 

Brandon put the sheets in the dryer. We went to bed. 

I woke up Monday with no contractions but was still told I had to go to fetal monitoring at 2:00 just to make sure all was good with baby. 

My Mom, Grandma ( who drove from Palm Springs in the middle of the night Saturday...) and my sister all came to my house and picked me up for lunch and to take me to my appointment. 

We ate at Wilmas in Balboa where I decided to drink diet coke and eat a turkey sandwich trying to evict my baby. 

We drove to Brandons work  picked him up and went to the hospital for monitoring. 

Brandon and I walked in to the tiny room with the bomb ocean view and layed there for 20 minutes listening to Ethans heartbeat.
Each time the nurse came in to check us she made these wierd faces and even called in another nurse at one point. 

Cue the freaking out pregnant lady. 

She eventually called my doctor who told them to admit me. 

Ethans heartrate would dip with each contraction and they determined my placenta was no longer supporting him like it should be. 

This was it. 

3:00 Monday afternoon I was admitted. 

We had none of our stuff. Brandon was in work clothes and we were just shocked. 

I was hooked up to an iv and within 20 minutes had pitocin flowin through my veins. 

The contractions took a couple hours to get painful and then they sucked. 

BIG TIME. 

I asked the nurse what kinda drugs she had.. she brought the good stuff. I think it was some sort of morphine, but it sent me spinning.

Hours passed and the pain was getting worse and worse. I wasn't progressing at all, in fact they told me that I wasn't even at a 1 at all... I was fully closed.
Ummm what?!

So after 8 hours and a really horrible procedure to get me dilated, I made it to 4. My water was broken and I got the lovely and heaven sent epidural. This was when I was told things would start happening.
Right.
 8 more hours later... still at a 4.
I had officially been in labor more than 30 hours.
With Ethan's heartrate still not doing well they decided a c-section was my only option.

Within 10 minutes I was being wheeled into the operating room.
Within about 5 minutes I met my son.

It was the most amazing and magical feeling.
Hearing that little man scream and seeing him for real was overwhelming.
I cried and just wanted to hold him but was so numb I could just kiss his face and talk to him.

So no, labor did not go as I had planned, but our man was born safely and healthy and that's all that matters.

I am smitten with this little man.