my ... you guys have been chatty ... not sure I can catch up on all this reading btwn nursing my VERY hungry little girl!
ok...the labor story..
had to tell you all ... i didnt believe i was in labor b/c i had been having contractions for a week or so... so i invited a friend over to make bath salts, body scrubs and milk baths w/ me. so we were working away and i kept stopping... making her stir... and she caught me watching the clock. she asked if we should start timing and I said they were three minutes apart. you have never seen someone start putting lids and seals on jars so fast

i was so like, it'll take forever, relax!!! so she jumped up and cleaned the kitchen and asked me to call brian...so then I had the bloody show and figured ok, we can call now.
he came home all freaked out at about noon...and was so mad that I wanted to change the sheets on our bed so my SIL could sleep in our room, and do all these other little things...then i begged to stop for lunch (he refused me). so we go to the hospital and i could not stop laughing b/c I just figured this will take forever will everyone calm down?
told the lady to put the wheelchair away, that I was fine to walk up to L&D ... so we got up there and they said "can we help you" ? my DH almost busted a nut

he said we are having a baby, her contractions are now 2 minutes apart...yes. put her in a room!!!!! they said they didnt think i was really in labor b/c i was laughing.
so ... they did and I was 3 cm at 1:00 ... 7 cm at 3:00 and had Tessa at 4:11...the LPN working was also a MASSAGE THERAPIST...she got off work as a nurse at 3, then volunteered to stay on her own time for the rest of my labor and do pain management..I have to tell you this...
she is the reason my delivery went so great.
she turned the baby when she was wrong side up.
she moved my hips and somehow made the pain just go away.
she broke my water w/ massage
she showed brian things to keep me calm.
I only had one shot of some iv medication at 3:00 and that was it.
I swear she is an angel.
I would highly recommend anyone who can afford it to hire someone to come in to play that role during labor. omigosh. it was amazing. i think doulas, or other people can play the same role...
if we were having more, I would eat rice for a year to afford to have someone do this again. I cannot stress what a surprise it was that it could make that much of a difference.
i told them to get the nurses who were not busy and let them come in and learn ... so they did... I could hear her telling them what she was doing and why... I hope they can help other people.
It was so cool
The OB who delivered was young and fun and kind.
She thanked us at the end...said it was fun for her staff to labor w/ someone, and that its rare b/c they do so many epis.
other new thing was a bar they snapped to the bed that I could pull down on...this worked great as a place to direct any pain...
anyway...gotta go eat while I can...just wanted to share this b/c it made all the difference for us!!!
also, I felt really good aftwards. tessa is very sweet natured. the nurse in postpartum said she was going to write in our chart that we had no postpartum blues, just postpartum giggles!!
I hope you all have a great experience too!!!