Bebe Dos: The Birth Story

I woke up on the Fourth of July, irritated that I still hadn't had this baby (my due date was July 5, and I was two weeks early with Griffin. I thought for sure I would've had this baby by then). I decided to wake up Griff at 8 am and he and I were playing around in his room and I got him ready for the day.

At 8:30, I went back to our room. I started to notice that I was having some contractions. They felt pretty strong, so I decided to take a shower just in case. At this point, they were 7 minutes apart, so I did what the doctor tells you to do - time the contractions for an hour. In the time it took me to take a shower and wash my hair, the contractions got really major. Really painful. Really close together. When I got in the shower, my contractions were 7 minutes apart. By the time I got out, they were only 4 minutes apart. Five minutes later, they were 3 minutes apart. Five minutes later, they were 2 minutes apart. Crap.

I try to call the doctor, but their line isn't working. I tell Billy, we need to go to the hospital even though I can't get ahold of the doctor. Luckily, his parents were spending the night so they could watch Griffin. By this time, it's 9:45 a.m. and the contractions are awful. I realize I might need an epidural this time around because if my labor is this bad and I'm only an hour into labor, then I'm in trouble (I was in labor with Griff for 24 hours).

We drive the 30 minutes to the hospital and I am screaming like a banshee, until about halfway there, I mentally decide that I need to get a grip. I think my exact words in my head were, "C'mon, Leslie, man the !#$% up!" 

We finally get there, and of course, the valet isn't there because it's a holiday. So we pull in anyway and go in trying to find someone to help us. At this point, I am in major pain and I'm pretty sure I have to go to the bathroom. Billy is still trying to find someone to take our keys and I give up - I need to go upstairs to OB. I make my way to the elevators where someone asks if I'm in labor. Yes, lady. Now quit talking to me.

Billy and I go upstairs to OB registration, where he talks to the nurse and I RUN into the bathroom because all I can think is, "If I go to the bathroom, I'll feel better." I sit on the toilet but the need to go passes. So I follow another nurse with Billy and go into the OB dept, where I promptly freak out and run into another bathroom and five nurses tell me, "No, no, no, no, we have to examine you first."

They get me into triage, the nurse checks me (I'm pretty miserable at this point) and tells me, "Honey, you don't have to go to the bathroom. You're fully dilated. You need to get into the delivery room now."

They roll me into delivery and I look up at the clock in the hallway. 10:15 am.Once in delivery, it's a crazy blur. Tons of nurses trying to get the room ready, trying to get my IV in, trying to take my information, and trying to get a doctor in the room to deliver. Luckily, my OB doctor's partner happens to be delivering a baby in the hospital, so I at least get a doctor from my practice.

It's craziness - just people everywhere and chaos. Finally, they let me start pushing. I look down and vaguely note that in all the craziness, my bra is still on and it's hanging off one of my arms. I push once. The doctor says, "One more." One more? Seriously? I push once more and we have a baby girl.

Baby Ellerie Lin is born on the Fourth of July at 10:31 am - 16 minutes after we get out of triage - and is 8 lbs, 5 oz and 21 inches long. She seemed to be in quite a hurry to make her way into our family :)