October 27th, 2009
1:30 am: I awoke feeling like I was having menstrual cramps. I tossed and turned for awhile but when the cramping didn't go away I decided I was having contractions. I decided not to wake Manuel right away and instead got up around 2:15 and took a shower to see if moving around would make the contractions go away. Nope, still contracting every 15 to 20 minutes.
3:30 am: Manuel woke up and realized I was awake so I told him I thought I was having contractions. This was the perfect scenario in Manuel's opinion...for me to go into labor in the middle of night...because he would for sure be home to drive me to the hospital. Manuel had been stressing out over the notion that if I went into labor while he was at work he wouldn't make it from downtown on HWY 45 to The Woodlands in time for the birth, especially if it was rush hour. We started timing my contractions. They were kind of sporadic - anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes apart and never really developed into a pattern but they never went away either.
8:00 am: After getting Andres and Jeremy off to school we decide to go to the doctor's office because we are convinced I am in labor. At the doctor's office we are told I am 70% effaced but only dilated to 1 cm. The doctor says I am not in labor because the contractions have not caused my cervix to dilate past 1 cm. In order to offically be "in labor" your cervix needs to be dilated to 4 cm. Uhhhhhh.....ok??? Anyways....
9:30 am: We decide to hang around The Woodlands for awhile longer instead of returning to Humble in case my contractions get worse. We are convinced the doctor is wrong. We eat breakfast at IHOP. I am continuing to have contractions. The contractions are uncomfortable and slightly painful but I can still walk around and carry on a conversation. After a while we decide we can't hang around IHOP all day and the contractions were not increasing in severity so we decide to head back to Humble. We start to doubt ourselves. Maybe the doctor is right.
11:15 am: We arrive back in Humble where we stop at an HEB to have a couple of prescriptions filled and do some grocery shopping. Manuel takes care of everything in the store because I elect to wait in the car. I am not in a ton of pain but I'm still having contractions. I decide even this amount of pain isn't worth it if I'm not in labor. I'm totally bummed.
12:15 noon: We arrive home. When I step out of the car I think I feel a small gush of water and decide that I need to go to the bathroom to check things out. I don't mention this to Manuel. Manuel carries in some groceries then returns to the car to get more items. I follow him into the house. I never make it to the bathroom because as I pass through the kitchen I feel a larger gush of water. I run/wobble back to the door and yell at Manuel that my water just broke, or I peed on myself. He comes running in the house in disbelief. We check things out and decide I do not have a bladder control problem; in fact, my water has broken. We jump back into the car and head back to The Woodlands. I phone my doctor's office and the nurse says to head straight to Labor and Delivery at Memorial Hermann - The Woodlands. Another huge gush of water in the car tha soaks through my clothes to the seat of the car an begins running down my legs. I'm freaking out that we won't make it all the way back to the hospital in time.
1:00 pm: We are admitted into Labor and Delivery. The doctor shows up expressing his surprise to see me again so soon. He checks me. I am dilated to 4 cm. He says it could be hours before I make it to 10 cm and since my contractions still are coming regularly he is going to administer pitocin. Ahhhhhh!!! I fear pitocin. It makes contractions more painful. I decide to give it a try.
2:00 pm: The contractions have gotten considerably worse and are about one and a half to two minutes apart. I'm in a lot of pain. I'm unhappy, uncomfortable, and don't feel like answering any of the nurse's questions.
3:00 pm: I request that I be given an epidural and the pitocin stop being administered. The nurse turns off the pitocin drip and says the epidural is on the way. About 20 minutes later the epidural arrives but as the doctor is explaining how he is going to administer the epdiural I have a contraction that makes me feel like I need to push. The nurse is shocked when she checks and discovers that I am fully dialted already. There is no time for an epidural. The nurse's scramble to reach my doctor by phone.
3:20pm: The doctor arrives. He again expresses his surprise at how quickly my labor has progressed. Then, he proceeds to do doctorly things...
3:34 pm: Isabella is born!!!!
