rocco's birth story: part one.

Hey there, it's been a while, yes?  Maybe I should catch you up on how everything went down (and came out).

While Rocco ended up being born at 10:38 last Wednesday night, I can't really say for sure how long I was in labor.  I know I had a strong contraction Tuesday night around 11:00, and was woken up occasionally through the night by strong, painful contractions that would then die out.  I had a couple more in the morning, as well as some spotting, and though I mentioned to Todd that 'today might be the day,' it never really turned into anything.  By the time my 8:00 chiropractic appointment rolled around, contractions had totally stopped, so I went in without incident.

At 9:00, I went to my prenatal appointment, had a couple minor contractions in the waiting room, but (again), it ended up being nothing.  I don't ever have them do cervical checks, so without knowing if I was dilating or anything, there wasn't really anything they could tell me.  My midwife asked if I wanted my membranes stripped to try to get labor started, to which I emphatically responded HECK NO (did it once.  never again.  while effective, it was SO PAINFUL.  never again.)   She scheduled me for a nonstress test for the following Saturday, and I went home feeling pretty normal.

However, around lunchtime, stuff started getting real.  My sister texted and asked how I was feeling, and I responded with something like, i...think?...i'm in labor?... I let my mom know to be on high alert for possibly needing to come up later in the day, as I was still hesitant to say for certain it was true labor.  

I get that I could probably have called it sooner, but remember what happened with Laurelai?  I was certain it was labor, and the third time my mom and sister made the 2.5-hour drive up here, I was actually right.  So this time around, I wanted to be absolutely sure before calling for backup.  Even Todd, who had been home the whole day and was scheduled to go in to work at 5:00, asked at 3:30 if I was sure.  

So, finally, around 4:00, I called my mom to come up and watch the kids, and around 4:30, Todd called into work to say he wouldn't be coming in.  In a weird turn of events, we actually had some leftovers sitting in the fridge from the night before, so I got those warming in the oven for the kids' dinner.  They ate, I labored, you know the drill.

My mom got here from Southeast Iowa, and my sister arrived from Des Moines, both a little after 7:00 and not a moment too soon.  While my contractions were coming every 10-15 minutes while I was laying down, they were every 3-5 if I was upright, and getting stronger.  So we waited for another contraction to come and go while I was laying down, so that I could hightail it to the car and get as horizontal as possible before another one hit.  I called the hospital at that point to let them know we were coming, and we were on our way.