Peddle to the Metal: Quick and Easy

I woke up Monday morning around 4:30am with discomfort and pretty painless contractions so I decided to hop in the shower and see if the hot water relieved any discomfort. I woke up Ryan around 5 and we decided that with contractions every 5 minutes we should go into the PEC (HUP's maternity ER) and get checked out; worse comes to worse we would have gotten released and been early for my 9am ultrasound to check my fluid levels. I wanted to first straighten my hair in case this really was "the day" but Ryan said absolutely not and sped to the hospital as if I was going to deliver in his truck.

We got to the PEC and at 5:45am they checked me and I was only 4.5 cm dilated (I was 4cm as of Thursday, 11/4), so I laid there with the monitors on for the next hour. At next check I was only 5cm, not progressing fast enough for them to admit me right away. They were going to make me walk around for an hour to see if I would progress any further, but they decided to do an ultrasound to check my fluid levels since I had the appointment scheduled for 9am. When they read the levels, I was a 3.8 and a 5 is the lowest acceptable level before they would schedule an induction. With this new information they finally decided to admit me immediately into labor and delivery around 7am.

Once I got admitted, things moved fast! My contractions at this point were still pretty tolerable thankfully - every 3-5 minutes and hardcore breathing through them. Within 20 minutes they turned into raging contractions that had me doubled over almost on the floor and in complete shakes and sweating. They decided to start the epidural before my pain became too intense that I wouldn't be able to sit down. I felt almost nothing when they were inserting the epidural in my back - contractions were 100x worse than any pain from starting the epidural. Within 20 minutes, all of the pain was gone, phew!!!

Dr. Chen and his resident broke my water at 11am when I was 8cm and 100% effaced in order to make the process move super quick from then on. At 1pm when he checked me again, I was finally 10cm and he said "Okay we're going to start pushing in a minute". What?!? We're ready to push?! was exactly what Ryan and I said to each other - finally it was real and happening! Pushing took less than 15 minutes to welcome Reagan into the world, and I would do it a hundred times over if it meant I got to meet the most precious baby at the end.

After a fairly quick and painless (once the epidural was adjusted & it fully kicked in) labor and delivery, we finally got to meet the little girl we've been waiting for! The doctor immediately put Reagan on my chest and we got to have the first thirty minutes of her precious life as just the three of us - Ryan and I were both in absolute love and adoration the moment we laid eyes on Reagan. It's a miracle to know that little life was inside of me for 39.5 weeks and now she's actually here with us.