My beautiful baby girl was born on 11-1-00 at 9:18 p.m. She was 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long.
My labor was extremely fast. We left for the hospital at 6:30 and I thought for sure they were going to send me home. Although my contractions were only 2 minutes apart, they didn't hurt enough to feel like it was time to go to the hospital yet, but I decided I better take my doctor's advice and leave just to be safe. (He told me that I was going to go really fast and that once I knew I was in labor to head to the hospital right away.) We arrived around 7:00 and by the time we checked in and got a room, it was 7:15. I was 4 centimeters dilated, and the contractions were still bearable. I decided to labor in the tub, and stayed in for about 1 hour. When the nurse checked me at this point, I was at a 6. I started to feel pretty bad at this point and decided I wanted to get out of the tub and lay down. My mom arrived at this point as well, and I needed encouragement in order to go natural as I had planned, but my mom didn't give it to me! She said I think you would feel much better if you just got the epidural. I caved. I asked the nurse for the epidural, but at this point things were going really fast. By the time I got my IV and the anesthesiologist arrived, it was 9:00. He had me sit up and rest my head and arms on a table, and just as he began preparing me for the epidural, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure and I knew it was too late. I said Oh my God I need to push! The anesthesiologist about freaked. He said how far is she? My nurse said a 6 or 7. Just then, my water broke, and she said I need you to lay down. I said I can't. She said if you don't lay down, your baby will fall on the ground. I finally managed to lay down, and they had me breathe through a couple of contractions without pushing (torture!) until they could find a resident doctor to deliver my baby. 2 pushes later and she was out! Immediately after, I thought that was horrible and if I have a 3rd child, I will have an epidural. A couple of days later however, I think it was the most amazing birth, and I can't believe how wonderful it was. I will definitely choose to go natural if I do have a third--pretty easy to say since I am pretty sure I'm done having babies!!!
Anyway, I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed. Oh...and more good news! Much to my shock (and the nurses), my resting heartrate is 45 bpm!!!! I have you to thank, Cathe! I can't wait to get back into my old routine. My recovery has been wonderful and I really feel ready to workout again (to my brand new Cathe tapes). Now if my baby would just sleep through the night--everything would be just perfect! ;-)
Best of luck to all of you future mommies!
Stacey DeLapp
My labor was extremely fast. We left for the hospital at 6:30 and I thought for sure they were going to send me home. Although my contractions were only 2 minutes apart, they didn't hurt enough to feel like it was time to go to the hospital yet, but I decided I better take my doctor's advice and leave just to be safe. (He told me that I was going to go really fast and that once I knew I was in labor to head to the hospital right away.) We arrived around 7:00 and by the time we checked in and got a room, it was 7:15. I was 4 centimeters dilated, and the contractions were still bearable. I decided to labor in the tub, and stayed in for about 1 hour. When the nurse checked me at this point, I was at a 6. I started to feel pretty bad at this point and decided I wanted to get out of the tub and lay down. My mom arrived at this point as well, and I needed encouragement in order to go natural as I had planned, but my mom didn't give it to me! She said I think you would feel much better if you just got the epidural. I caved. I asked the nurse for the epidural, but at this point things were going really fast. By the time I got my IV and the anesthesiologist arrived, it was 9:00. He had me sit up and rest my head and arms on a table, and just as he began preparing me for the epidural, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure and I knew it was too late. I said Oh my God I need to push! The anesthesiologist about freaked. He said how far is she? My nurse said a 6 or 7. Just then, my water broke, and she said I need you to lay down. I said I can't. She said if you don't lay down, your baby will fall on the ground. I finally managed to lay down, and they had me breathe through a couple of contractions without pushing (torture!) until they could find a resident doctor to deliver my baby. 2 pushes later and she was out! Immediately after, I thought that was horrible and if I have a 3rd child, I will have an epidural. A couple of days later however, I think it was the most amazing birth, and I can't believe how wonderful it was. I will definitely choose to go natural if I do have a third--pretty easy to say since I am pretty sure I'm done having babies!!!
Anyway, I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed. Oh...and more good news! Much to my shock (and the nurses), my resting heartrate is 45 bpm!!!! I have you to thank, Cathe! I can't wait to get back into my old routine. My recovery has been wonderful and I really feel ready to workout again (to my brand new Cathe tapes). Now if my baby would just sleep through the night--everything would be just perfect! ;-) Best of luck to all of you future mommies!
Stacey DeLapp
