Gwen’s Birth Story
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
5pm-woke up from a nap with mild cramps/contractions. Had a feeling that they could turn into something, so I joked with my mom and Anthony that she might want to be a fourth of July baby.
8pm-noticed that the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and pretty consistent, but they still weren’t really painful. Finished packing hospital bag.
10pm-a little bit more pain, so I took a warm shower (which didn’t help).
10:30pm-contractions kept getting stronger, but Anthony was having trouble getting Henry to bed so I got dressed and waited in the bedroom.
11:30pm-Henry finally went to bed and I told Anthony that it was time to go to the hospital. He called my mom and she came over to stay with Henry.
On the way to the hospital, my contractions were 3 minutes apart.
Arrived at UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. Nurses thought I looked “too calm” and asked if I was just there to “rule out labor”. I told them no, I’m in labor.
Friday, July 4th, 2008
Doctor checked me and I was already 5cm and 90% effaced. They decided that yeah, I was staying.
2:00am-pain was getting really bad so I asked for an epidural. There was a line ahead of me so I had to wait a while.
3:00am-received epidural, got checked and was at about 7cm.
Rested and watched tv for a while (the epidural worked well).
7:00am-I was checked again and I was 10cm and 100%. I was feeling pressure, but not really a strong urge to push. The doctor decided to turn down my epidural and give it a little time.
8:35am-started pushing
9:50am-Gwendolyn Clare was born!
Everything went perfect and I just had 2 small first degree tears.
pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9109845...7606012524430/
I can't believe she is a week old already!
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Brings back memories.
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