This is actually how Nick's birth developed*...
I was sleeping in bed, trying to ignore the glow from dad's computer. At approximately 1:30 am, I was awoken by a sharp pain. I turned to dad and said note the time, I think I just had a contraction. Then 7 minutes later the pain returned. This went on for 2 hours (with the contractions approximately 7 minutes apart). After 2 hours of writing down the times, dad became very tired and fell asleep, unfortunately with the pain of the contractions I was not able to fall asleep.
In the early afternoon, I was getting very tired and wanted to go into the hospital to get them to relieve the pain with an epidural. However, when dad called they suggested that we stay at home so that I would be more comfortable. They also said that we should wait until the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart for an hour. After receiving this news, I curled up on the couch to rest a bit. Cooper then joined me and laid beside me keeping me company (as if he was supporting me through the contractions). I tried to sleep, but as other woman who have given birth will know, as soon as another contraction came I was woken up (woken up in the peak of a contraction in excruciating pain) not able to breathe through the contraction and had to suffer through it.
This went on for a few more hours, before I made dad call the hospital again. I was hoping that this time they would say come in and we will make this all go away. However, again they said it is better to stay at home where you are comfortable and can relax more. After this depressing news I decided to have a bath. This helped with the contractions, but soon I became very fidgety and needed to get out.
The next few hours consisted of me either laying on the couch, walking around the living room or having a bath. After going through this for 23 hours at home, I asked dad to call the hospital one last time, because I was just too uncomfortable and I needed to go into the hospital, even just to find out how far along I was. Dad called the hospital to ask them if we could come in to be monitored, they said that it was fine, but they would probably be sending us home after we were checked out (after the fact dad would tell me that they also said that since this was my first baby I could go through these irregular contractions for 2 or 3 days). We locked Cooper up grabbed our bags and were off to the hospital.
After walking to the maternity ward, we rang the bell and waited to be let in. We waited and waited, but no one let us in (the sign on the door said not to ring the bell more than once because the nurses were probably with a patient and they would open the door when they were free). By chance a nurse walked by the door and let us in. Apparently no one heard the bell ring.
I was strapped up to the monitor and laid in the hospital bed for an hour while they monitored the baby and myself. The nurse then returned and examined me to see how far along I was. She then said to walk around the maternity ward for about 30 minutes and she would re-examine me. Dad and I then tried to walk around the ward, which was hard to do because I was in so much pain.
After 30 minutes of trying to walk around the ward, I went back to the delivery room for the nurse to examine me. Before she examined the nurse asked if I wanted any drugs during the delivery. I of course said yes!! I asked her how far along I was when she first examined me, and she informed us that I was 4 cm. I was so happy, because at that point I was worried that she was going to tell me that I was only 2 cm.
The nurse re-examined me and said, sorry there is no time for drugs, you are fully dialated, put this gown on. At that point, I started to freak out! There was no way I could do this with no drugs. I started pleading with dad, telling him that there was no way I could do this. I was not strong enough. After 40 minutes of the most excruciating pain, which I can't put in words, Nicholas was born. As soon as they placed him on my chest I forgot all about the pain and was the happiest mom in the world!!!
--Mom
*Note: This is from mom's perspective and is more accurate than dad's perspective.
