Phew, I finally have a minute to sit down and write Holden's mini birth story.

Let's see, where to start?

Wednesday October 19th, I turned 37 weeks. FULL TERM!! Wooohoo! It would have been AMAZING had I not been experiencing contractions every 4-6 mins for 3 days. I was MISERABLE! I was so sore that it hurt every time the baby would kick. At 10am I had my 37 week appointment with MY Dr. Did I mention that I LOVE her? I was dilated to 4cm and 100% effaced and waters bulging even more. She told me, "If you dilate anymore I'm pretty sure this baby is just going to fall out. Let's just put you out of your misery!" She then stripped my membranes. It was by far the most painful thing that had ever happened to me! I shouted a few cuss words and she responded with "yeah, I get that alot" HAHAHA!!

Wednesday night, I was contracting every 4 mins (again) and they were getting more and more painful. So I decided to call the Dr and see if I could go into the hospital. The on-call Dr was HORRIBLE!! She was rude, rude, RUDE! This is how the conversation went with her...

Me: I'm contracting every 4 mins and have been for the last 3 hours straight, they are becoming more intense and I'm having trouble walking and talking through them.
Her: Well your only 37 weeks.
Me: Yes, I know but I'm in a lot of pain and I'm not sure what to do.
Her: Well how is this any different than what you have been having for the last few months?
Me: Umm, they are ALOT more painful and intense.
Her: **Sigh** Well, I'm not sure what the point of you going to the hospital is. If you are in labor...ok. But if you're not, I'm just going to send you home.
Me: Ummmm, OK? My last baby came really fast, so I'm a little worried about that too.
Her: *Rolls eyes* (Yes, I could HEAR her roll her eyes) Ok well you can go to the hospital, but I'm not going to come in. I'll have a nurse check you when you get there.

WTF?!?!

I was SOOOOOOOO mad. Seriously, contractions every 4 mins is not reason enough to go to the hospital? After I hung up I may have called the Dr a few choice words that I am not proud of, but at that point I was PISSED!!

When I got there, I had dilated a little more since my appointment so they gave me some pain medication, and kept me for the night. I quickly passed out.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, My Dr was on call the next morning. She came in at 7am, and said she thought I was leaking fluid, dilated to 5+cm, and that we were gonna have this baby TODAY! My contractions had slowed down a bit so she had me get up and walk for an hour, then broke my water.

I'm not going to lie, I expected for Baby Holden to FLY out like London did after breaking my water, but he didn't. Nothing really happened actually. We laid around in bed for about an hour with contractions every 4 mins (just as they had been for days). Then my nurse came in and told me they were going to start pitocin. I have heard horrible things about pitocin, so I promptly asked for the epidural.

About an hour later I got my epidural and it was glorious. I felt nothing, and when I say nothing I mean NOTHING. I just laid around for the next 3 hours watching TV and eating ice chips. About that time, I started to feel some pressure. The Dr checked me and it was time to push! She told me to hang tight while they got the birth cart and supplies, but yeah my body had a different plan. I NEEDED to push.

2 contractions and 7 mins of pushing later, Holden Alexander was born (and peeing on the Dr).

So after having my hormonal break down the other day, I thought I was finally in Labor.
I started having contractions on Wednesday night at around 5pm. They became stronger and more and more regular. By about 10pm I was having them about every 5 mins. Mike came home from work and really wanted me to go to the hospital, but for fear of being sent home empty handed, I decided to wait just a little while longer. I was finally able to fall asleep around 1am only to be awoken several times by...MORE CONTRACTIONS. At 5 am, I finally woke Mike up and told him I thought we were going to have to go to the hospital. I really really really wanted to wait until my Dr. appt at 10am though. I knew something was going on, but for some reason just didn't think "this is it!" Well at 7:30 I finally called the on-call dr from my Ob's office only to find out that Dr E (MY DR) was on call, WOOOHOOO!!! When he returned my call, I explained the situation to him to which he replied "you should have called me last night!" Well at 8 am after a quick stop at McDonalds for a biscuit n' gravy (Note to anyone who might have to go to Labor and Delivery, EAT FIRST! They won't let you have anything but ice chips after you get there, and there is nothing worse then to be a HUNGRY pregnant woman) we were at the hospital. My contractions were still 5 mins apart. The Dr checked me and I was still around 2 cm but now I was 100% effaced. So he made a deal with me, since I was only 35 weeks and 3 days, he was going to make a VERY small effort to stop my labor in hopes of buying London a little bit more time in the womb. He gave me IV fluids and some pain meds to try to relax my uterus. He said that if it was going to stop it would, but if my body was in full fledged labor, it wouldn't matter. Well about 15 mins after my IV was set up, I was flying high on the pain meds and London QUIT!! My contractions basically came to a screeching halt. We stayed at the hospital for probably another 3 hours to be monitored but around 11 am they released me since I was only having contractions every 20 mins or so...UGH!! I know this is best for Mr London. I know every day that he stays in me, makes him a little healthier. But, wow, does he not know me at all? Does he not know how impatient I am? Does he not know that under NO circumstances should he tease his Mother like that? AHHHHHH, this is torture!!

So from here on out I am not counting my contractions. I will be needing some sort of definitive sign. I will not be heading back to the hospital until my water breaks. Ok, so that is not totally true, but it is wishful thinking. I feel like every time I go up to the hospital and they stop my labor its like me crying wolf. I know it's not quite the same thing, but that is how I feel.

So to my precious son I have this to say...Listen London, Mommy is really really really excited to see you, so if you are seriously planning on coming out anytime soon, will you at least have the common courtesy to pop that bag of water first? It will be like our own little secret Bat Signal. If you do this one little thing for me, I promise I will not let the Dr spank you on the bottom when you come into the world. Do we have a deal? Sooner is always better than later, my love, just keep that in mind.
P.S. Oh and one more favor, Daddy and I have a betting pool on when you are going to arrive. He has bet on Feb 14th and 20th and I have bet on Feb 16th and 24th. If you could just come on, say the 15th, so that it's right in the middle and I don't have to listen to how he was right for the rest of my life that would be GREAT!!! We love you! :) -Mommy