Born June 21, 2008 at 8:40 pm

June 21 at 5:30 am, I was having contractions by time I got up and started timing them they were 6 minutes apart. I was skeptical about whether it was real labor or not, so I ate some breakfast and took a warm bath. But they kept on coming and were growing stronger and closer together. By time I called the hospital they were 4 minutes apart but they were extremely strong and I was feeling it in my lower back (i hate back labor!!!). They told me to come on in, so about 10:30 am we left the house and went to the hospital. Abby had gone to visitation meeting with my in-laws, so if I was in labor and at the hospital, they were gonna come after the meeting was over.

The nurse came in to check me and she said I was 80% effaced and 3 - 4 cm dilated. "that's it"? I thought. I don't remember my contractions being this painful this early on! The nurse told me to go walk around for a couple of hours and see how things progress. My contractions were still about 4 minutes apart. My in-laws and Abby joined me at the hospital. That day there was a health fair at the hospital, so Abby got her face painted and took pictures with Lucy Lobo (a mascot) and she took pictures with a Alaskan Malamute Husky, which is her favorite breed. Anyhow, we walked around and Abby said "this is the craziest hospital ever" It was so busy! Finally I went up to my room, my legs hurt and were swollen. My midwife came in and she checked me to see if there was any progress.... Nope! I was more at a complete 4 cm but my contractions were coming every 4 to 6 minutes.... I was tired and thought to myself, "I don't want to deal with this pain" But I wanted to try to go without meds for as long as I could. So the midwife stripped my membranes (this was my second time getting this done) and sent me off walking some more... I came back, my legs were tired and I was exausted from not sleeping the night before and being up early with these pains. The contractions were more intense, especially in my back. I was checked again, but NOTHING! I was so frusterated. So alas, I asked for an epidural. I just wanted the pain to go away so I could sleep! Finally, Ming the anastigiologist, came in with the epi! I was set. Now there was a chance that with the epidural my contractions would or could slow down, in that case I would need pitocin to make them stronger and closer together. And that is exactly what happened. I was still having contractions about every 4 - 6 minutes apart and they wanted them to be about 2-3 minutes apart. My midwife came in and said she would like to start pitocin, I said it was fine. I mean, hey I have an epidural, I won't be feeling the pain from the pitocin and as long as Josiah's heart rate didn't drop, I was fine with it. My midwife and I did decide to leave my water in tact, because babies handle the stress of the contractions a lot better while still surround by the amniotic fluid. 3 hours later I was checked again and I was only at 6 cm! "Are you kidding me"? "what is taking things so long to progress"? The nurse thought maybe Josiah was face up and she said sometimes that can slow labor. WEll, a few minutes later I started to feel a slight pain in my lower abdomen, I mentioned it to the nurse and she said to push my epi button. So I did, TWICE. A two contractions later I was feeling it all in my back. I told Miguel that I was feeling pain and he went to go get Dr. MING. By time he got to my room (15 minutes later) I was in tears. I was feeling every contraction, every pain and every pinch! My legs weren't even numb. "What is going on I thougt. Why isn't this working"? I received another dose into my IV. But it just wouldn't work, nothing they gave me worked. So Miguel grabbed my hand and he looked me in my eyes and cheered me on. Even in the midst of my pain, I wanted to laugh because Miguel brought of Tiger Woods and how he played with a broken knee and won the golf ternament thingy. Mind over Matter. You can do this, You're stronger than this. But the pain was sucking me in and all I could think was, " If labor is This painful, what will pushing feel like, and how long will it take to push, what if he gets stuck... all these fears and questions were running through my mind" It took me an hour and a half to push Abby out! I can't handle this pain! But I began to pray that God would see me through it all, I prayed out loud. In between contractions I would start to cry, Miguel just told me to let it out and gear up for the next one. The midwife came in, by this time I had been checked 4 times. In less than an hour I went from 6cm to 10cm! He was coming so fast that my epidural couldn't keep up and the contractions were so strong that my body rejected the medication.
Time to push. Now this was it. I actually found some releif in pushing. So I pushed, and pushed and pushed. At one point I screamed and was hushed by my midwife. "No, hold your breath and push!" So I did. Abby was sitting next to the midwife, I even had to tell her to back up some because I didn't want her in the way. =] She was so amazed at seeing Josiah's head come out. Miguel was shouting "he's coming Esther, He's almost here" (yah, right I thought. You said that last time) but he was, My son was almost here! For 25 minutes I pushed and out flew this 9 lb. 4 oz. baby!!! "I did it! Thank you God!" and then the tears came flowing out! They put him on my chest and Abby cut the cord! I was so proud of her! Even the midwife was impressed with our 4 year old daughter! Never did she get scared or grossed out. At one point Miguel stepped back to do something and I need to push and she came and pushed my leg back! LOL
Everyone kept saying he was big, but he looked so tiny to me. Right a way I could see that he had his daddy's nose. And what was this? Dimples? In both cheeks!!! I melted. He was so perfect. His face was bruised and his blood vessels were broken in his eyes and on his face. The Dr. said it was because he came out so hard and so fast. But in spite of that, he was so beautiful! My little man! Right away we prayed as a family and thanked God for answering all of our prayers. It took us almost 2 years to get pregnant and it took us almost 10 months to produce a healthy baby boy! Thank you God.

Now, my birth didn't go exactly how I thought it would. But in the end I pushed out my baby with no pain management, he was alert, strong and healthy, and God had His hand in it the whole time!