Wednesday morning (10/30/13) was my second to last appointment. I was 38w6d and feeling every bit of it. My husband and I left our toddler with his aunt (my roommate sister) and headed out for a bright and early 8 AM ultrasound.

Nothing new to report there, and the Newest Man hid his face so we couldn't get any pictures. The only interesting thing was that the ultrasound was preformed by a supervised student tech, and our regular tech mentioned that the Newest Man was hanging 'a little low.'

As none of the other appointments were there yet, we were able to go right in to our appointment early and talked to the midwife. "Well," she said, "when do you wanna have this baby?"

She brought out the schedule for November and made a copy for us. She highlighted the ideal dates/times when my preferred midwives would be on call at the hospital (though really all the ladies at the practice are ever so good!), my husband and I consulted his usual work schedule, and we decided to start inducing on the Newest Man's due date: November 7.

We got that scheduled, added another scheduled ultrasound right before the final appointment on 11/5, and got hooked up for a NST. It's really weird to vividly remember a kind of cheerfully resigned feeling as the NST went on-- I was so sad that my body didn't want to naturally go into labor with what was hopefully going to be our last child, but at least this way we had a definite end date and everything was planned to go great. My parents were visiting from 12+ hours away and could stay in town; my husband (a grocery manager) would give his boss ample warning to cover his shifts; I'd have the baby's room ready and the house clean, etc. My husband and I even planned a date for the induction process-- drop our son off with my parents, then go to the hospital and play World of Warcraft together while waiting for labor to progress. And if it didn't? We'd get to see Thor 2 and try again later. My OCD planner self was satisfied. Wins all around. This kid clearly wasn't coming on his own. I didn't have a single contraction in the 40+ minutes on the monitor, even with lots of orange juice. Movements from the Newest Man that normally would set off a strong BH did nothing.

My husband and I came home, had lunch, and put the Little Man down for a nap. During this nap we took the chance to Get It On, played some WoW, and then my husband left for work. He was scheduled to work from 2:30-11:15 PM. Yeah, about that…

Sex always gave me some cramps and BH contractions as of week 34 or so. Didn't stop us from going at it whenever possible, but I had to kind of carefully make sure that I didn't have anything going for the next couple hours because it could get intense and I wouldn't want to move from a fetal position on the couch for a few hours. So I wasn't surprised when I started feeling crappy as my husband was leaving for work. The pain was annoying, but I thought myself too realistic to consider that it might be timeable or the Real Deal-- that'd be too perfect. Instead I busied myself with routine cleaning, taking care of the toddler, and calling my mom and letting her know the plan. She joked that since the induction date was set, maybe my body would give a huge sigh of relief and go into labor on its own. I laughed. "Yeah, right. He's pretty damn comfy in there."

Around 4 the Little Man went down for another long nap (teething sucks yo), and I was increasingly uncomfy and in pain. The obvious solution was Reddit + a bath, right? Hellz no. If anything, even after a full hour in wonderfully hot water my lower back was feeling absolutely horrific, the cramps were reaching around my sides to my belly, and the floor of the bathtub was making my pubic bone mighty sore. No position was helping and I've been super hydrated this pregnancy, so I got out (somehow, as everything was ridiculously sore) and had a lie down instead.

Bored and uncomfy out of my mind, I googled a contraction timer (Contraction Master) and started timing to see if I could. It seemed to be constant pain, but eventually a pattern emerged. 1:30-2 min apart, lasting 30-45 seconds. This continued for a full hour and they were getting sloooowly closer together-- I downloaded the sheet afterwards for fun, thinking I could show my husband when he got home. Hopefully something was happening Down There to make the induction process later easier. I emailed my mom and informed her that I was in pain and the other details, and added that "now that I've told you, this is a sure-fire way of getting it to stop."

6 PM: Little Man woke up, I changed him and settled him in with food and Barney. Checked my phone-- Little Man uses it for a sound machine app when sleeping-- and saw my mom had called four times. Tch, what a worry wart. I set everything up to start on doing the massive pile of dishes and called her as I worked-- might as well be productive. The conversation went something like this:

Mom: Heeeey just got back from being out all day how you doin'? We're leaving to come down and see you all tomorrow!

Me: Good, sent you an email about it but I'm in quite a bit of pain.

Mom: omg contractions?!

Me: Naw, it's honest to goodness going to be nothing. I just hope it makes things easier next week, y'know?

Mom: panic mode Let me google when you're supposed to go in-- if they've been going on for several hours and not stopping and hurt, well.

Me: Puh-lease. He's not gonna come NOW. I'll wait and see if my water breaks or something to indicate either way.

Mom: Uhm… babycenter says five minutes apart, a 'babybumps' says similar… how close are you?

Me: Like, two minutes? One and a half?

Aaaaaand she lost it. I promised to call my husband at work at eight PM IF the pain was still there, and let him know that he might have to let me use the truck to drive myself to the hospital for the obligatory monitoring after he got home at 11:15. He would have had a long day with not a lot of sleep-- why disturb him for nothing?

The denial was so strong, guys.

My sister got home from work at 7 PM, and during a pain (at some point they'd become distinct waves of pain) I let her know what was up. I reassured her that it was 99% likely to be nothing, but wanted to keep her in the loop because, well, she lives with us. Poor Sister got wide-eyed and panicky nonetheless, though I imagine the fact that I was clutching the side of the pack'n'play for support during the waves of pain wasn't helping, nor the fact that the waves were distinctly separated by a regular interval of time.

I planned to wait until eight, but at 7:30 I was antsy and needed a distraction from the pain so decided to call my husband.

Me: Heeeey dear, I hate to make this call-- (aaaaand wave of pain that made me wince, double over, and sound breathless for the rest of the call)-- but I'm having contractions that are kind of painful and I MIGHT need to go in for monitoring after you get home. Drinking water, laying on left side, and bathing hasn't' helped. Don't rush home or anything, and of course I'll call if it changes. They also might just go away before you get here. Just wanted to let you know.

Him: Okay. Sounds good. Do you need to have BFF take you in?

Me: Naw.

Him: Okay. I have to get back to work, just keep me updated. Love you bye.

Get some pots clean in between antsy pacing and stopping for contractions, and my phone starts blowing up. First is our BFF.

BFF: So Husband just called and said you need to go to the hospital?

Evidently my husband went into panic mode and called her immediately. I reassured her that it was probably nothing, but after hearing how close together the contractions were you could hear her facepalm. She instructed me to pack bags for myself, husband, and toddler, and she'd call and check on me in an hour.

My mom called, and I started tearing up during a contraction. She told me to call the hospital. Hospital confirmed that I should come in and get checked out, so BFF headed over to pick us up. I went to our bedroom to pack the bags while Sister watched the toddler, and once I was nice and soundproofed I broke down. I HURT, things were moving fast, and this probably wasn't labor anyway. I was going to make everyone excited and disrupt plans for nothing. I hated the thought of giving people false hope-- there was a lot of it during our first pregnancy, and it was the worst bit. If my husband had to get out of work for what proved to be nothing that would suck because he only had a few vacation days left and we can't afford for him not to work. I was terrified to let everyone down. Once all these hormones and crying/moaning during contractions were done, I packed a bag for me and the husband, dried my tears best I could, and went back to the living room to wait for BFF.

As I was packing the Little Man's stuff just in case Sister had to go somewhere/we had to bring the Little Man with us, BFF showed up. She's a lovely woman, and always the sensible person and go-to for moral support.

BFF: How's she doing?

Sister: She's on the floor.

I guess seeing me huddled over on all fours in the hallway in pain during a contraction didn't give the BEST impression that it wasn't' Go Time. I was still in denial, though!

BFF: Alright, Husband has someone coming in to finish his shift, do you want to just meet him at the hospital?

Me: Oh, naw, I'm sure it's fine. We can wait. I don't want him to have to drive up there alone in the dark and storm, y'know?

(cue a contraction)

BFF: YOU ARE SO NOT FINE.

Me: How about we call Husband and see how far away he is, time-wise?

BFF: I think that-- (cue a contraction)-- those are WAY TOO close together for us to have time for that. You are gonna have a toilet baby if we don't go ASAP.

Husband showed up right then. I was reluctant still, worried that I was wasting BFF's time (she had to work early the next day), and if Husband hadn't shown up right then BFF probably would have had to manhandle me into the car against my will. It was decided that Sister would stay and put the Little Man to bed (his bedtime was at 9, and it was 8:45 by then), and BFF would drive us up to the hospital. I put a large black trash bag in the backseat in case my water broke or something and we were off.

It was about 30 minutes through slick, pitch-black stormy darkness to the hospital, even taking the fast and heavily populated route. Husband would occasionally ask how I was doing. My response was always a smile and telling him I loved him, because being honest would've just freaked him out. They talked the whole way there, which was a nice distraction. Contractions started to slow down a little in the car but when they came, oh man were they intense. And still regular. Every bump in the road would seemingly set off another one, and there seemed to be eight billion potholes and random bumps in the road. I didn't say anything other than answering Husband's question and occasionally pointing out places we could stop and grab drive-through food-- I remembered that once I got an epi and IV, they generally wouldn't let me eat anything but ice water, and I hadn't eaten since lunch. BFF pointed out that we'd have to order a kid's meal at the rate I was progressing.

We got to the hospital and I requested that we park in the garage and walk, rather than dropping me off. We were quickly checked in by the receptionist once we figured out what floor L&D were on (had to ask the staff, as strangely there are no signs? I mean, most people probably better prepared than I was), and a nurse appeared to take us back. She was actually the one I spoke to when calling the hospital earlier.

I changed in the exam room's bathroom, and had two contractions during it. Thaaaaat sucked. Rediscovering that the hospital gowns were still way too big for my short body and I had to be careful not to flash people was fun. BFF politely left the room while the nurse hooked me up to the monitors, watched a couple contractions, and checked me.

I was 5cm dilated. Oops.

Through the last several doctor appointments I'd opted out of checks, as they would just give me false hope and last time I was walking around at 4cm for weeks before inducing. Hearing that hey, I was dilated enough to where they were keeping me was kind of sudden and insane. It started to dawn on me that I might have a baby soon.

They moved us to a proper laboring room. These rooms were niiiice-- like a hotel. I enjoyed it last time around, but thankfully didn't have to spend several hours pacing it. I got hooked up, and the midwife on call came in to chat. I'd never met her before, but she was very nice. I was having contractions pretty close together by this point, but because BFF was in the room and hadn't seen me freaking out before I was trying to be very quiet during them, in a weird attempt not to scare her off. When they hit I'd just breathe and stare at the strategically-placed painting on the opposite wall. Husband and BFF would watch the contraction monitor and let me know when the numbers started going back down and the end of the contraction was in sight-- which greatly helped, actually.

I let the nurse know I wanted an epidural ASAP, and she immediately got started putting an IV in so she could get some blood, clear it with some tests, and send for the epi. I apologized to BFF, had my husband come and sit next to me on the bed, and sobbed that I was "so so scaaaaaared," of the needles into his shoulder as the nurse did her thing. I figured becoming a sobbing mess and getting snot and tears all over my husband's shirt was better than the flailing, panic-attack stricken mess I was last time.

The time came to get an epidural after a few bags of fluid were pumped into me-- I was delighted that it only took half an hour between the IV and epi getting put in. BFF left the room while I got the epi. The nurse held me still after I preemptively requested it, and my husband sat in a chair next to the bed while I cried at him that I was terrified. Crying all-out actually helped me keep my breathing steady and not to move, even if I was aware I'm not a pretty crier. It took them two tries to get the epi in, unfortunately-- the first time I felt a jolt of pain near my crotch and dropped the f-bomb (then apologized for it), and apparently she hit something to get blood in the tube so had to try again. It didn't hurt too badly, and I handled it better than last time, so counting that a win.

The epi kicked in and oh man that rocked. Nurse started asking me paperwork questions, and I started to answer when a wave of tiredness hit me. According to BFF, I (already a pale white girl) was white as a sheet, even my lips, and both my husband and the nurse looked a little panicky. She gave me something in the IV and I felt a little better, but my BP kept dropping to dangerous levels and an alarm would go off, sending the nurse scurrying back in with another dose. I don't remember that happening, just feeling tired, so that probably backs up the story.

As we neared 1 AM, the nurse and midwife checked me-- 8 cm! They broke my water, then said we should take a nap. BFF decided to leave right before they came in. From here it got very quick.

1:08: Water broke. Need to let nurse know if I feel pressure.

1:24: start feeling pressure. Try to convince self it's not time yet, and ask baby to wait until 2 at least so we can sleep. Husband is snoring.

1:46: call nurse and let her know.

1:49: get checked by midwife and am complete. Cue flurry of people that wakes my husband, and people start taking positions.

1:55: start pushing. More difficult feeling than the first time. Midwife is getting up in there, and I panickedly request no episiotomy. "Oh don't worry hon, that'll definitely not be needed." Baby was trying to spin mid-delivery(?!), and after one push where I guess the midwife was trying to spin him back my husband asked if the other nurse could hold my leg. Someone was sent to get him juice, as he was pale and ready to faint after getting too graphic a look. Poor dear. Literally the next push after he sat down, though…

2:04: Baby is born.

He had a knot in his cord and 2/3 vessels in his cord. We knew about the 2VC, not the knot. We're thinking it happened when he flipped from transverse to head down at 37w. Totally healthy, weighing in at 6.13lb and 20in long. <3 He was pink at birth but started to turn orangey the next day. Thankfully we got to go home 11/2.

PP it's been nutty and not what I expected with a newborn and one year old, but that will be a whole 'nother post in and of itself. That's the story of our sweet little Halloween baby. <3