Part 2 - Labor Day - January 12, 2008

I walked into the bedroom and Larry had just got out of the shower. I told him “I think we may be going to the hospital today” and told him about my morning so far and my conversation with the nurse. We began to “time” the contractions. I took a shower and got dressed, and Larry did some last minute chores. We called our parents to tell them we “think” today is the day, but we won’t know for sure until we go to the hospital. Around 10:00 I called the nurse back and told her our “average” time was about 5 minutes apart, and she told us to go to the hospital. By this time, I was unable to talk through the contractions and Larry could “see” them on my face, but I knew we still had a long day ahead of us. We packed up the car with the bags and left the house. We made a side trip to Starbucks (a 2-contraction stop) and headed to Seton Medical on 38th street.
We got checked into Labor and Delivery, got me hooked up to monitors, and she checked my progress. We were at 100% effacement and 4cm dilated, so she said we were definitely having a baby today. When she told me this was real and not false labor and that we would be staying the day, I was so relieved I started to cry a little…I was so sure they were going to tell me it was false labor and to go home. She also said that since we were already to 4 cm, I could have my epidural now…..YEAH. So by 11:30 am I was hooked up and finally feeling the relief from the contractions.