By the time they checked me, I was almost 5cms dilated and the contractions were less than 2 minutes apart. This is that last picture before the real pain set in.
Pretty soon after we got there, the contractions started coming right on top of each other. It was intense. I held out as long as I could before requesting the epidural because I didn't want to slow down the labor (haha...that was so not a problem). So in the 10 seconds between contractions, I asked for the drugs. Hoag hospital was completely full this night and they told me it would be 40 mins before I could get the epidural. You could have killed me right then and there. But it finally came and they checked me again and I was almost 8cms. This is about 3 1/2 hours after my water broke.
After the epidural, my life was fantastic! The contractions were still coming right after each other. They left us alone for a while. Taylor took a nap and my mom came in to hang out. At 5am, they checked me and I was close to fully dilated so they said they'd be in at 5:30 to try pushing. The doc came in and agreed that we were ready. She asked if my OB estimated the weight. I told them she said he would be "normal" sized, 7lbs ish. So we pushed for about 25 mins and out popped our 9lb. 13oz., 21 inch beautiful baby boy. The first words Calvin heard were "Whoa!" No one expected such a big guy to emerge.
He meets his parents for the first time. Sorry kid, you're stuck with us!
We are so excited that he is finally here! And, of course, he's in charge now which is why it has taken a month to upload this post. :-)
