the birth

As I have mentioned before, my parents had come out for Christmas...in hopes that Samuel would be born. My mom had to leave on the 31st but if he wasn't born before then, she would come back in late January. My dad didn't have to leave till the 18th of January.
His due date was January 6th but needless to say, I wanted this baby out before January! A few weeks before they flew out, I was already dilated to a 2...I had to be put on Pitocin with Peppy before I was at a 2..so we figured he'd be coming early.
I had been having some cramping and pressure so we were just waiting for it to become consistent. Some of us had thought that Samuel would decide to come on Christmas..seeing Peppy had arrived on Resurrection Sunday. Well, Christmas came and went...nothing. I was pretty bummed. Monday came and went, Tuesday came and went...nothing. By now, I was getting pretty down..knowing my mom had to leave on Saturday and I so wanted her there for the birth and then a few days to enjoy him. Wednesday night came and I started having pretty consistent contractions. At first they were about 7 minutes apart but they then got to be about 3-4 minutes apart. By this time, it was about 2 in the morning and I thought, "i need to get up and get stuff done!" After a while, I didn't feel any contractions at all. I woke up after a few hours of sleep and was extremely disappointed + so tired because of lack of sleep. I got up and started walking around our neighborhood. I would feel contractions when I was walking but they would stop when I stopped. I gave up. I had a doctor's appointment that day and was sooo upset that I actually had to go...seeing that my normal wait time there was 3 hours...AAANNNDD, that I'd have to get weighed AGAIN.
My mom came along with me and the doctor checked me and said that I was, oh gosh I think like 80-90 % effaced and 3 cm dilated. They said, get walking! Because the baby was getting big and I was already at a 3, she said that it wouldn't take much for her to keep me at the hospital once I was there. I shoulda just went then, huh? We all went out for some good Indian food and then made it home in time for me to walk about an hour around our neighborhood. Everyone took turns walking with me. Then, Esteban got the grand idea to have his parents let us borrow their treadmill and take Peppy for the night. By this time, I didn't think I was gonna have the baby before my mom left. The contractions just weren't there unless I was walking.
His parents brought the treadmill and picked up Isabelle. Esteban got a few movies and I walked on and off throughout the evening...with NO contractions. They kept asking me if I was feeling anything and I had to keep saying no. I was so disappointed that it all had gone away. We ended up going to bed and I went right to sleep. I believe it was around 2:30am, I awoke with extremely strong contractions about 3 minutes apart. I told Este it was time for us to get ready to go and hopped in the shower. When I got out, I went and woke my parents to tell them, "lets go!" I can't remember who it was but one of them said, "really?" I think they were in shock, too.
We arrived at the hospital and got signed in and put in a room to be checked. I was not worried at all about being sent home since the doctor had been so upfront about telling us it wouldn't take much to keep me there. The nurse checked me and she said I was at a 2 1/2. (How can I get less dilated???) That was a bit frustrating...and I knew that this was going to be similar to Isabelle's birth. (Where I was contracting but not dilating) The doctor wanted to start me on pitocin but I was so scared about being put on that without an epidural because my last labor was horrible until I got the epidural. They were AWESOME! They were right on it, letting me know that the epidural would be there soon...yada yada. The nurses this time were really amazing.
The difference this time was that Esteban could actually rub my back during contractions and soothe me...this was such a shock to me cause usually any touching while i am in pain intensifies everything.
I got my epidural, which was super crazy...felt like electricity was running through me, and laid back down...I seriously felt like I was on a cloud. That stuff is so amazing and really allows you to enjoy the whole process of labor. My parents were there, and let me tell you, my dad was flying high as well. He was sooooo talkative and my mom was sooooo tired. heehee. It was so great to experience it all with them.
I decided I was going to get a nap because I felt so good and started to fall asleep when i felt a lot of warm stuff on my legs...my water broke. And so the excitement continued. Samuel had pooped in the womb so precautions were going to have to be taken upon his arrival.
I remember telling the nurse that I'm feeling a lot of pressure down there and maybe she should check...and she said the baby was there and she was going to call the doctor. There was another woman in labor that had my doctor, Dr. Dimmette