The Story

*Sorry it's so long....I tried to condense it, but it's still way longer than I thought it would be*

Early Thursday morning, March 31st, I begged and cried and pleaded with Brandon to let me have an induction. I was so tired of waiting, and although overall tired, I had no real reason or need to be induced. He said "Let's wait the weekend, and see what happens. If nothing happens we'll go in on Monday and request an induction." I stomped my feet, mumbled under my breath and agreed. I spent the day doing normal stuff, walking 20+ miles trying to get baby out (I exaggerate.... :D ) answering the endless text messages the same way I had been doing for 2 weeks "Not yet, we'll let you know" and, after a little more begging, eating some Five Guys to bury my emotions. Fast forward to 10pm- Brandon was home from work, and we were just hanging out together. I say "I've had some contractions...nothing new, but they've been about 10mins apart for a few hours...but they don't hurt-like usual." Brandon, knowing I'd been doing this for weeks just says "well, lets see what comes of it." We stayed up and played Wii, both somewhat hoping it would turn in to something more.
Well, Chloe thought she would pull a little April Fool's joke on us, and right at Midnight on the 1st, it started to hurt. The contractions I was having felt nothing like what I had read they should. They progressed very quickly and were 3-4 mins apart for hours and the pain was all in my back-and boy it was painful, we called our midwife, and she said as long as I could talk through them, and was comfortable, we could labor at home as long as we liked. Around 9am we went to the birth center to be checked, I was only 50% effaced and 3cm dilated. She told us we could stay, or we could go home and be more comfortable. We decided to go home, and clean, play more Wii and just hang out. When we got home, my contractions started spacing out, 10 mins-15 mins-20 mins.
Needless to say I was furious. No sleep+back labor= angry Calley. With the contractions so far apart, the pain seemed more intense every time, because my body had time to recover in between. That sounds ideal you say? Nope. By the evening they had gotten back down between 10 and 15 minutes, but nothing more. I sent Brandon to bed, as we both hadn't slept the night before, and I laid on the couch in between contractions and would pace the floor during. By this time my breathing techniques had stopped working. Pressing on my hips and pelvis stopped working, having a warm bath was like torture because I couldn't move around to relieve the pain. Instead I cried and complained quietly during each, so I wouldn't wake Brandon up. I called the midwife multiple times during the night, wondering if it was really supposed to be this painful. I think she didn't quite grasp how much it hurt. She assured me it was normal for first time Mom's to labor so long, and to hang in there.
I took a shower, waited for Brandon to get up, and finally around Noon I told him I couldn't take it any longer. He called the midwife, and let her know that we were going to the hospital. Then he called L&D and told them we were coming. We finished picking up the house, and I haphazardly threw together a bag. We got to the hospital a little before 2pm and they got me right to a room. The doc came in and checked me and informed me that I was 90% effaced and 7cm dilated...and that Chloe was face up, explaining my horrible back labor. I was relieved that I had progressed so much, and asked for some pain meds. The doc said she was going to break my water first, and then I could have whatever I wanted. She broke my water and told us that it had been bulging, and had contributed to me not progressing very quickly, which annoyed me, and encouraged me-knowing that now things would start to roll. I opted to try Stadol first, as I am terrified of giant needles and really didn't want an epidural. 3 contractions later and I was asking for the epidural. The stadol had done nothing for my pain, though it did help me calm down a little and feel floaty :) I got the epidural, (and had a contraction while she was putting it in, I was very proud of myself for not crying or moving at all while it was happening) and was finally able to relax.

Brandon and I talked for a little while musing at how easy it would have been to come in the day before or even earlier in the morning, but we were content with our decision nonetheless. I felt like I had done my absolute best, tried my hardest and wasn't just giving up. My body was exhausted, my brain was exhausted and I just wanted to hold my baby. We finally were able to get a little sleep, and although at the time it felt like minutes, it was really a couple hours-the nurse came in around 6:00 and told us she was going to start pitocin to help my contractions to be a little stronger. By this time they were back down to 2-3 mins apart, but weren't very intense, so they just wanted to ease things along. By 7:00 the doc was back in, and checked my progression, 100% and 9cm and baby had slipped way down the birth canal and she could see her hair..(lol TMI, i know) she said that it seemed like I would be ready to push pretty soon, so she got the nurses and started getting things ready.
About 7:30 we started, and from there it was nice and easy. Chloe was definitely ready to join our family. I pushed for 4-5 contractions, and she was here! The doc had me pull her up, and Brandon got to cut her cord-it was funny, the nurse just handed him the scissor things and said "here, cut it right here" and he was a little caught off guard, but enjoyed the opportunity I think :) Chloe was 7lbs 10oz and 21 inches long, I had a 2nd degree tear inside, but didn't tear on the outside..which I am grateful for!

Chloe had quite a bit of amniotic fluid in her tummy, the doc said it was common when babies are born so quickly, they don't have the time/compression that it takes to get it out before they are born. She would spit it up, and then choke on it-she ended up having her stomach pumped twice after she was born to get all the fluid out. Once she had that done, she was much better and was able to eat easier. She has been such an angel and only gets fussy when she is hungry :) We are so happy that she is finally here, and even though our experience started out badly, the end result and easy birth have made up for it. I told Brandon that when I think back on it, I don't really think about "labor" until we had gone to the hospital- and that the first 36 hours were somehow just a practice run. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting us become parents to this sweet little princess, she is such a doll, and we love her more than we can express!

Just to be a little vain, I'm posting my 10 day-after photo. I figure, I posted pics all along the way, why not an after pic? :)