I really did it!

I birthed that child and she is gorgeous. I've told this story a million times and I don't have much energy to write it all down, so bear with me. I'll share in installments. And I promise to start blogging again; as you can imagine, I've been quite busy these past few days!

So, here's the TWOP summary:

• Was supposed to be induced Friday morning, May 11.
• Got bumped. EVERYONE apparently decided to deliver that day (figures).
• Took a shower. Thought my water broke and started to really contract.
• Called doctor. They said, come on in. I told them I'd wait because they were busy. They said I couldn't.
• Natche had to take a shower and do about 50 other things. I drove myself to the hospital so he could finish and then take P to school.
• Got there (around 9, I think) and got checked. Water hadn't broken BUT I was 6cm dilated and contractions (not strong) were 2-3 minutes apart.
• They decided to keep me in the room even though they were incredibly busy and weren't prepared to deliver me yet. I told them I'd go down to the cafe if it would help. They said no; they weren't prepared for me to deliver in a hospital hallway.
• Asked for epidural. Nurse told me they needed to get a bag of fluids in me first...so they started my IV. Or tried to. Didn't like the nurse who blew my vein the first time.
• Natche finally arrived and I continued to lie in bed just waiting.
• Epi man came around 12-ish...I think. Didn't like him either. It took more than 30 minutes and SEVERAL tries to get the damn catheter in my back and that hurt worse than anything else I endured that day. Thankfully the final try took and ended up being a good epidural.
• Nancy, my wonderful midwife, broke my water sometime between 1 and 2....as Natche was eating his lunch. Tee hee!
• Nurse Elaine catheterized me to empty my bladder around 3-ish. Did you know that a full bladder can impede labor?
• Began to push at 5 min to 4pm.
• Raya was born 25 minutes later at 4:20pm, Friday May 11, 2007.

The best parts: No pain. No tearing. No swelling. No bleeding. And, most importantly, I got to watch my daughter being born. It was fantastic.

I'll post more later. But for now, here are/were her stats:

Raya Laine, 7lbs 11oz, 20" long