Labor and Delivery

Grandma Perkins with Sari and Kate at Kate's 1 year birthday party.

My Grandma Perkins passed away on November 2nd. Her viewing was the following Thursday and funeral Friday. I really wanted to attend both so I changed my induction date from Thursday (5th) to Monday(9th). Thursday evening at the viewing my lower back really started to hurt, then later that night after we got home I kept feeling cramps. Before we went to bed that night I decided to pack my hospital bag - just in case. I really didn't believe that I'd actually go into labor on my own.

At 4:30am I woke up having contractions. I tried to fall back asleep but they were too strong and too close together. I waited about an hour before I woke up Scott. I called Kristin to see when she thought I should go to the hospital. She told me to keep timing the contractions and to call her back in a little while. So I sat timing the contractions and they were about 4 minutes apart. At that point Kristin came over to stay with Sari and Kate and Scott and I headed to the hospital. We got there at 6:30am. They put me in the triage room on the labor and delivery floor and watched me for an hour. I went from a 3 to a 4 in an hour. The nurse didn't seem to think that was much progress. She mentioned that they might be able to give me some oral pain medication and I could go to my grandma's funeral. While it would have been nice to go to her funeral, I thought the nurse was crazy because the contractions were REALLY hurting at this point. They decided to monitor me another hour and at the end of it I was a 5+. Finally they decided to take me to a labor and delivery room and get my IV started - that was at 9am. I had to have antibiotics because I tested positive for Strep B. They wanted me to get them for 4 hours so the doctor said he was going to wait to break my water until noon. Thankfully after I got my IV I got my epidural. Finally I could relax! At 11:30 I asked the nurse to check me and I was between 8 and 9 cm dilated. She said she thought my water would break on its own really soon so she called the doctor. About 15 minutes later Scott and I heard a "pop" which was my water breaking. We called the nurse and she got the doctor. I pushed through 3 contractions and Leah was born at 11:57am. It was kinda cool going into labor on my own, but I really like the convenience of being induced - being able to plan for people to watch the kids and stuff. I still can't believe I went into labor on my own and 6 days before my due date!