A behind the scenes look

It started off so peaceful...Alan was letting me sleep in on Saturday morning! The night before, I had finished baking 5 pies for the PI party I was hosting at 7:30 that evening and I had planned on making 5 more pies through out the day as well as finishing cleaning the house. No biggie.


At 8:30 I awoke thinking I had just peed the bed, and within a matter of seconds discovered that was not the case but in fact my water had broken. I yelled for Alan....and the mayhem began!!

• Our friend Amy was called to watch the kids.
• Joseph, after getting dressed and shoes on, came into the bathroom convinced that the baby was in the toilet. (If only it was that easy!)
• Peter just came and stared at me in wide-eyed wonder.
• Hannah came at me with a hundred questions.
• Eden was just excited to "Go"!
• Alan brought a suitcase up so that I could actually pack all the stuff that had been set out to bring over the last few days and then jumped in the shower (of course after making sure that I was OK with that in terms of time).

I was beginning to worry because there were absolutely no contractions, just this constant drip.

Amy came, we loaded up the kids, and they left to go to a practice for Hannah at the church. Alan and I left shortly after to head to the Holy Cross Hospital. Alan made the off hand comment about going to the DC Temple and I thought, hey, why not, I am not feeling a thing. So we stopped by the DC Temple and Alan practiced taking pictures with our new camera. It felt strange doing that when all the times before it was very important to get to the hospital ASAP.

When we got to the hospital I was questioned about how I knew my water broke. I was at a loss of what to tell the nurse. Finally she asked, "How many kids have you had?"...Five, I answered..."Oh, well then you would know!" was her response. I would think that if you had a constant drip wouldn't anyone know that their bag had ruptured??

After being checked to make doubly sure that I was being truthful about my water breaking and going through their 200 questions plus meeting the doctor and having him check me. I was dilated only to a 2 and was still only about 30% effaced. This was going to take awhile, especially since I wasn't having any contractions. Alan was bold and asked the doctor if he could deliver the baby. The doctor's reply..."If you wanted to do that, you should of stayed at home!"...end of discussion. They put me on antibiotics for strep B even though I had only tested positive with Hannah and the test on Tuesday had came back negative. They weren't going to start me on pitocin until I had my second dose that would be given 4 hours later. They encouraged us to walk to see if we could get this labor going. Much to my horror, while walking in my beautiful gown we were spotted by a maternity tour group.

I have never been on pitocin before and I truly believe after this experience that it is the most wicked drug on the face of the earth. I had been on the "pit" for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours and was feeling like I was dilated to a 7 or 8, having contractions that would have brought any of the previous four children into the world. The doctor checked me and I was only dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced. I became a different person, I began crying and wishing for a swift death. Needless to say the next hour was the worst hour of my entire life...as soon as the nurse left, contractions came one on top of the other. Poor Alan was trying his hardest to bring me comfort, nothing helped. Alan called the nurse in an hour later. I told her the baby was coming, she calmly called the doctor. Alan went to the bathroom. The doctor came in, he asked, "Where's the dad that wants to deliver this baby?" When Alan came out I announced that the baby was crowning, they handed Alan some gloves, the doctor told me to just breath and try not to push. Side note: For all of you who don't know this little trick about me....I have babies with really small heads, which I am extremely grateful for. Back to the story....The nurse walked over and told the doctor, "I don't think that is possible!" That was the end of the beginning, Alan was able to catch this little one (they didn't take off the end of the bed, just in case he dropped the baby it would have a soft landing!), announce that it was a girl (I had forgotten by this point that we didn't know the gender), and cut the cord. Way to go Alan!! I have never been so grateful to be done with anything before in my life! What a horrible experience...with a happy and beautiful ending!