A Christmas Baby

My water broke at 7PM on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't until 8PM that I accepted that it had happened. I was so upset that Lily was going to have to be shipped up to Grandma and Grampa's and that we were going to miss Christmas morning with her. She had been so excited all week about Santa coming and it was like her first Christmas as the previous two she wasn't really old enough to understand.
Jesse and I made our way to the hospital where we were told that nothing was happening and to come back if my contractions became 5 minutes apart. At that point I had yet to have a contraction so I was pretty sure we were going to have to report back at 7 the next morning to start induction.
After a completely uneventful night we woke up early and had a little breakfast before heading to the hospital. Once we got there I asked if I could have the oral inducing drug so that I could avoid being hooked up to IV and monitors and so I could walk around in an attempt to have gravity help me invite this baby on his birthing journey.
For 4 hours Jesse and I (sometimes just me) walked the maternity ward track, we figure it was about 30 laps. But by 2 o'clock and after 4 doses and not a single contraction our nurse, Julia, said it was time to move on to the oxytocin IV.
I was upset but in the end you just have to accept the situation and move forward. I did however refuse to accept the 'no pilates ball' rule they had and insisted that I needed it for comfort and to remain upright to try and get the baby out. I would not just lie in bed waiting again, it didn't work out so well last time.
They set up the IV at 3 o'clock and by 5:30 I started having some fairly intense contractions. After spending some time on the ball I asked for the bed to be adjusted so that it became like a chair so I could continue sitting up but would be more comfortable.
By 6:30 I began to question whether I would be able to continue without an epidural. The contractions were coming very quickly and were considerably more painful. Julia said she would examine me and see where I was at, she wanted to know the number I was looking for to decide whether or not to have the epidural. I said an 8 and I wouldn't get the epidural, she told me I was at about 7 and a half.
She told me she thought I would have the baby within the hour, but I just couldn't bring myself to believe her as my previous experience had been 13 hours after being induced, not 4 or 5.
At 7 Julia's shift ended and Patty took over, by this time I was getting quite scared and was convinced that I wouldn't be able to do it without an epidural, but I couldn't bring myself to say yes for sure I wanted it. By 7:15 I finally called for the epidural, I can't believe they actually gave it to me, it was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had.
The pain was incredible and my body was involuntarily pushing the baby out as I was hunched over the bed and the anesthesiologist was telling me to hold still so he could put the needle in my spine. I kept asking 'how do you not push' and Patty just kept saying 'you just breathe through it'.
Jesse just held my hands and kept repeating over and over 'Suzanne, look at me, look at me, you can do this' (or something to that affect, I was on another plain at this point). I just kept coming back to his face and looking in to his eyes to help me back to the room and concentrate on getting through the pain, terror and need to push.
The anesthesiologist said he would be back in 20 minutes to check on me to see that everything was ok.
Turns out we didn't have 20 minutes, as soon as the drugs kicked in I was on my back and getting ready to push the baby out. It was such a different experience this time around, while the intense pain of the contractions were alleviated, the intense pressure and urge to push was still there. It was unbelievably uncomfortable, but at least I had control over the pushing and really felt like I was making it happen.
After about 10 pushes out popped Henry's head and I thought 'I've already had this baby', he looked exactly like Lily Pearl.
It was an absolutely amazing experience and I'm so glad that I was able to actually feel everything, to be in control of my body and to feel the sensation of working with the contractions to push him out.
He was born at 7:48PM on Christmas night weighing 8 pounds 14 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long and perfectly perfect.

Isn't he sweet!