The arrival

Our little peanut was in no hurry to arrive. We walked miles around Salt Lake. I ate the spicy food. I drank the funky tea. We did all of the old wives' tales, but in the end, it made no difference. This kid was not going to start the process herself. For the two weeks before her birthday I thought that if I planned things to do with friends and family that surely she would come before then. Labor would start and I wouldn't get to do whatever awesome fun thing I had planned. Obviously, that little mind trick didn't work either. I worked 4 days past my due date. Chris and I took a day trip to Kennecott. We ran every little errand we could think of. We made it to a friends birthday dinner. We were able to visit with Dad and Jacky quite a bit. We even attended a Labor Day party, parting ways with exclamations of, "Bye! We're going to have a baby!"

Monday night I was scheduled to come in to be induced. After ironing out the logistics of the procedure, I was given a pill at 11:30pm and told to rest. Being 41 weeks preggo, in labor and delivery and having monitors strapped to you does not make for a very restful sleep. I had my second pill at 4:00am and by 4:30 I was finally feeling contractions. We were timing them at 2 minutes apart when I called my doula at 6am. Chris and I dozed off in between contractions until my doula and the doula-in-training arrived an hour later. It was then that they started to get uncomfortable. My doctor arrived shortly after and determined I was dilated at a 2cm, but labor was progressing enough that I didn't need additional inducement. She left to attend her office hours and we spent the morning laboring. At one point I asked my doula how much longer I had to go, if I just had an end time I could mentally prepare. She said there was no way to know, but Chris suggested we shoot for lunch.

Somewhere in the 10am hour it all became a bit much and I demanded I be let in the tub. The water helped, but my contractions definitely ramped up. My water broke while I was in the tub and before long, to everyones surprise, I was pushing. I was pulled out of the water, returned to bed and declared ready to push. There was some frantic energy as they were not prepared for me to be done so quickly, but my doctor made it in time for the delivery. I pushed for an hour, nearly ripping the arms off the bed and subjecting others to my expletives.

And then finally, the baby. Clara Gayle arrived 9/07 at 12:26pm at 7 pounds, 7 ounces, 19.5 inches long. She had a ton of dark hair, was checking out everyone in the room and was completely perfect. She also looked exactly like her papa. She breastfed right away for an hour - a champion eater! Our new family was left alone for a few hours before Chris gave her her first bath in the nursery and we were moved to our postpartum room. And from there calls were made and family arrived.

I was so relieved to be done, not to be pregnant anymore. I was thrilled to finally have our little girl, happy and healthy and hungry. I'm grateful to essentially have the labor that I wanted. I did it all natural, with the help of the inducement. But I honestly think that the inducement played a big part in my success with a natural birth. I probably would have caved to drugs had labor gone on and on. And I certainly don't hold any judgment against those that do go the epidural route. In the middle of my labor I swore that this child would be an only child and that if there was a next time I was having 30 epidurals. That labor, it's nasty stuff.