Finally!

After giving up the wish of having all of our birthdays have 7's in them, I went to bed last night feeling disappointed, yet also had a little gut instinct not to take my sleeping pill because I might need to be alert. Well, I'm glad I didn't because it wouldn't have been good to be groggy around 2:30 AM when contractions started. I laid there and monitored them for an hour. They were 3-7 minutes apart. So I got up and finished packing my bag. My mom woke up and Nate finally woke up. I took a bath and called Kaiser. They said go to the hospital. So Nate and I drove into Denver and I had contractions every 5 minutes on the dot the whole way here. They checked me and I was only a 2. The no nonsense older nurse told me to walk around for two hours and they'd check again, but if I wasn't a 4 I'd have to go home. She wasn't my favorite. We walked around for about an hour until I was in tears from the painful contractions and the thought of possibly having to go home. So we took a little break and the contractions slowed down, which worried me. I was praying SO HARD the whole time that they'd let me stay and I'd have the baby today. We walked for another 20 minutes before it was time to get checked.

It was a new, nicer nurse and she said I was 3 1/2, and she was encouraging me to go home. I plead my case (one day overdue, mom in town wasting helping time, I will probably need to be helped along because I was with my other two, my other two were 8 and 8.5 pounds at this same point, we don't want to keep driving back and forth in the snow, the hospital was not busy so they may as well take me, etc.) She said she'd call the Dr. and talk to him about it. I knew it was all judgement calls at this point and was praying my heart out that they'd have mercy on me. My contractions had slowed way down and I was really nervous they'd try to send me home. I was getting ready to turn on the tears if I had to when she came back and said she decided to skip consulting the Dr. and just send me up to be admitted. She said, "Don't make a liar out of me." I gave her a big hug and told her I'd do my best. She also said there's still a chance they'll send me home if I'm not progressing.

We got to the room and got hooked up to everything and the contractions still weren't that great. I met the resident Dr. who is a young, beautiful girl named Vanessa (I've never met a Vanessa who wasn't beautiful), and she said, "I don't see any reason we'd send you home." I said I definitely agreed and decided I really like her! Then my contractions started to really pick up (probably because the pressure was off now that I knew I could stay.) After a couple of hours they were 3 minutes apart and very intense. I was praying I'd be at least a 4 so I could get my epidural.

They checked me and I was a 5, so they offered the epidural (loved it that I didn't even have to ask). Within minutes the anesthesiologist was in here doing a fantastic job of giving me an epidural. I told him he was my new best friend.

Now I am as comfy as can be. The annoyance/pain of the IV and catheter have worn off (isn't it funny how it hurts at first and then you get used to it?) I am a little itchy from the epidural, but it's tolerable.

They just checked me and I'm a 7. My mom is on her way and we'll probably get to meet Jonny in the next few hours. I've been praying for nine months that this will be my best labor and delivery experience yet, and so far it has been. I am thrilled that I went into labor on my own -- a first for me. Even after my water broke with Elizabeth, they still had to give me pitocin. Maybe I went on my own because I tried every trick I'd ever heard of EXCEPT Castor oil, I wasn't desperate enough for that yet. I got a massage and she worked my pressure points so hard that I was literally black and blue, I bounced on the ball, walked on the treadmill, ate eggplant and pineapple and spicy food (all tips from various people), and tried the oldest trick in the book. But I think the kicker was probably the evening primrose oil capsules that Tamara gave me. I had one at lunch yesterday, one last night and also inserted one (I know, gross and TMI), but hey, I'm in labor now and I was willing to try almost anything! So THANK YOU TAMARA!!! And everyone else who gave suggestions and encouragement. I feel so blessed to have supportive, loving family and friends, modern medicine, good insurance, good nurses and Dr's who are treating me so well (other than grumpy grandma who checked us in) and the power of prayer!

Please pray that things will continue to go smoothly! I'll keep you posted!