a little look into our life.: Labor day.

After weeks and weeks of braxton hick contractions, I was a little skeptical of the "different feeling" ones that I was having while making dinner Monday night. I waited to tell Lee because I had been saying every night (for FOREVER) that I was "hurting" and I just figured it was no different. But, the more they came, the stronger they got. I finally told Lee: 'Okay, babe... this may be it. These ones are packing a real punch.' He at first was kinda like: 'yeah, okay...' Then, as they kept coming, he started getting a little more excited and a few minutes later, my water broke. (Totally gross, may I add?) But, game on. It was about 6:15PM.

Lee finished packing us up for the hospital, and Kaylee and Layton pitched in to clean the kitchen for me. Lee called family, and Becca headed over. She started timing them for me while I layed on the couch waiting for everyone to leave. They were about 2 to 3 minutes apart.

We got to Silverton at around 7 o'clock and got admitted into triage. They quickly determined that I was in fact in active labor and that I would be staying to have a baby. (Um, duh.)

Contractions obviously didn't let up and by the time I got to my room (around 8) they were coming so fast and so strong that I could hardly handle it. Back labor made them even worse. I think my mom was actually traumatized by the words flying out of my mouth. (uhh, sorry mom.) I had a great support team helping me through each one though. I had Becca, Steph, and Lee by my side the entire time. All of them taking turns massaging my back and cheering me on. My poor husband even had visible marks on his shoulders from me clawing the crap out of him during every one. He was a real trooper.

My ultimate fear was that I would go too fast to have my epidural, so the nurse got it ordered right away. She came back to my room to inform me that there was an emergency in the OR (of course there was - my luck) and that the anesthesiologist would be with me as soon as she could be.

Right before she got there, I was checked and dilated to 6cm. I won't even get started on how rude and unprofessional this lady was, but lets put it this way, it was one of the worst experiences ever, and I am not referring to the huge needle that was inserted into my spine. After the tubing was put in, she told me to lie down so she could give me the medicine. All of a sudden I had this huge urge to push. They checked me and I was already complete. Go time. I was given medicine but by the time it kicked in, Ava was out at 10:13.

I was in labor for a total of 4ish hours and only pushed maybe 10 minutes.

Kaylee and Layton were in the delivery room and were both in tears when they first saw her. It was one of my favorite moments of the whole experience. Seeing those reactions and knowing how special it had to be for them. Knowing it was something that they would always remember - made me so happy. I had all three of my kiddos and I was one proud mama in that instant.