Ok - here are the details

(I don't expect everyone to read this whole thing, but I need to document it somewhere. If you read it, lucky you.)

At my last appointment, I was dialated to 4 cm. I was freaked out at being that far at only 37 weeks. I decided to try the castor oil a week early than I had originally planned.

Friday December 19 - Lisa offered to take the little boys for the morning (she is such a saint! Love you Lisa!) Clayton was off that day, so he came with me to run some errands. When we got home, I took three Tablespoons of castor oil. I had planned on making the castor oil cookies, but when I made the dough, the smell of the molasses was gross, and I didn't want to have to eat tons of gross molasses or a little bit of gross castor oil. Anyway, Tommy and I laid down for a nap. I had a few trips to the bathroom, but really not that bad. I guess I started feeling contractions in the evening. They weren't much different than the ones I had been having for weeks. After the kids went to bed, they were worse. I never really had time to sit down and time them, so I was going mostly by pain. We decided to call the Dr at around 10:00. After a long discussion, she said to come in. We got the kids to the Vejnars, and arrived at the hospital at around 11:30. I was dialated to 5 cm and the nurse said the magic words, "you're staying!"

I laid in bed watching tv and feeling contractions. They got more and more painful, and by the time the candyman (anesthiesiologist) came I was in tears at every contraction. This is where I got the worst epidural I have ever had. For some reason he couldn't find the right spot, and it took forever! I was having a constant electric zing down my left leg and dealing with really painful contractions. Needless to say, I was sobbing like a baby during this whole time. Finally the thing got where it needed to be and it was over. I started feeling much better and was actually realxing. I was so exhausted, and I loved not feeling my body that had been causing me so much pain and discomfort for the past few months. I don't think I got much actual sleep, but I didn't hurt. After the epidural, I was dialated to 7 cm and stayed there for a long time. Apparently the baby was having some heart decelerations with my contractions. Then my contractions were on top of each other, and the baby needed a rest. They gave me some medicine to slow my contractions. This, and the epidural, are probably the reason I didn't progress during that time.

It was a long, long night. I was at 7 cm all the way until the Dr came in at 7am. She broke my water and within an hour, I was at 10. The only problem was that I was back to feeling the contractions and it was very painful again. I was getting scared of pushing if the contractions were as painful as they were. I pushed the button for more medicine - nothing. I asked for another dose, and then another. Finally I was pain free (again). But now, I couldn't push. More of the waiting game. An hour later, I was able to say, "can we please try?" So we did, and about 2 or 3 contractions later there he was.

As he was coming out, the nurse exclaims, "His head is huge!" The whole time she was cleaning him up, she couldn't stop commenting on how big he was. She wasn't kidding either. We were suprised to hear them announce 8 lbs 7 oz! Thank goodness he came over 2 weeks early!

We are all glad the pregnancy and delivery are over and we can move on to being a new family of 7! (holy crap, how did that happen?!)