The Big Day

As promised, here are details of the big day. Overall my labor was not nearly as bad as I had expected it could be, thanks in large part to the epidural. I must have said "thank God for the epidural" at least 100 times during the process. The worst part was laying in bed with all sorts of IV's and monitors attached to my body while I was told to "relax" - yeah right! The epidural made me itchy and gave me the shakes, both of which are common side effects. I had two fabulous coaches - Chad and my mom, who scratched my back for most of the night and closely monitored the baby's heart rate and my contractions. I had the ability to pump up the epidural when the pain got unmanageable, which I took advantage of a time or two. Here's a timeline of the events...

• 8:15 pm - Water broke as I was putting dinner on the table


• 9:00 pm - Packed the car and headed to the hospital, called Dr. Powar on the way


• 9:30 pm - Arrived at hospital where they monitored contractions (5 minutes apart). Walked around the hospital to progress labor while making phone calls and resting at each contraction


• midnight - Dialated to 3


• 2:15 am - Received epidural and tried to rest, contractions slowed so they started pitocin


• 9:30 am - Dialated to 8


• 11:15 am - Started pushing, he's almost here!


• 12:14 pm - Cries filled the delivery room from baby and mom. Welcome to the world baby Chase!!!