Wiggle Worm

22 weeks was the first time that I absolutely was positive I felt the baby move.. The last couple months of my pregnancy she was such a wiggle worm! There would be times I'd be sitting at work and if I was wearing a shirt with a pattern on it, people would walk by and see my whole entire belly move!! Hahaha... That is weirdest feeling in the world.. And at the same time you love it so much! Most nights, Charlotte would have herself a boxing match inside of me! Hahaha... I think she was teaching herself tae kwon do! That.. Or she was doing burpees to keep herself in tip top shape! Hahaha..I remember her movements being very percussive... If I had sound effects built into my belly, there would have been constant noise!!
My pregnancy was pretty uneventful... I didn't really ever have any complications... Thank goodness! I was terrified that I was going to come back positive when they screened me for gestational diabetes!!! Luckily though, everything was fine! I did have low iron for most of my pregnancy though... I had to get my finger pricked every time I went in so they could check my levels... They put me on this high iron prenatal which made me throw up..so then we switched to just a heavy iron supplement... Even with all the red meat I was eating and the iron supplement.. I was still a pint low on blood at the end because of all the iron I was missing! My body just did not like iron!!!
The last couple weeks that I met with my doctor everything seemed to be going really well! At 35 weeks I was 75% effaced and starting to dilate.. 37 weeks I was 80% effaced and dilated to a 2... My last appointment I was 38 weeks and 3 days.. I was still 80% effaced and almost dilated to a 3... The doctor asked if I wanted my membrane stripped.. Which I said I didn't care..so he decided to just stretch out my cervix to see if we could get things moving a little more... The next day I had some cramping, which turned into contractions about 10 mins apart by midnight that night... Steve and I went for a walk in the park at 1 am to see if we could get the contractions to speed up.. We went home and I was going to take a shower and get ready to head to the hospital.. Well then everything just stopped.. Hahaha.. Go figure! So the next morning (Sunday), I started having contractions on and off every 10 to 15 mins... I went for a run, I walked like 3 miles..nothing! They just kept coming every 10- 15 mins... So Sunday night when we got home Steve and I had a 'wrestling match' as our doc called it.. Haha.. We'd heard that was the ultimate trick for inducing labor and Steve had been avoiding it because the thought of doing it when the baby was so low in my pelvis freaked him out!!! Hahhaha..guys can be such wussies!!
Well...Monday morning I woke up about once an hour with really strong contractions.. About 7 am I decided to start timing them.. By 8 they were 10 mins apart, by 9 they were 5 mins apart.. So I decided I should get Steve out of bed.. He got up and started doing work on his laptop and when I saw him sitting at the table, clickety-clacking away like it was just any other day, I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack! My contractions were getting stronger and faster and here he was taking his own sweet time! Hahaha.. To be fair, I was making a conscious effort to remain as calm and collected as I possibly could, so as not to freak out my poor husband.. Haha..I think when I woke him up I mentioned that we would need to go to the hospital "before noon".. Which really meant before 10... Haha.. By the time we left for the hospital my contractions were up to 3 mins apart and my head was going a million miles a minute! We called the doc on the way to the hospital and they told us he was out of town.. Just my luck! Steve's mom ended up calling his house and leaving a message on their machine (they are close friends with the doc).. I think the only thing that terrified me more than getting the epidural, was not getting the epidural!!!! Haha.. The whole way there I was so nervous that we would get there too late and they wouldn't be able to give me the 'juice'.. Ha..
We showed up to the hospital and checked in at 10 am..I remember the walk from the car to the labor and delivery desk was the longest walk of my life! Haha.. I had to stop every few minutes when a contraction would start, so I could focus on breathing.. Steve was basically dragging me the whole way..hahahah.. As we approached the check-in desk, the lead nurse said, "So are you here for a tour?".. In any other situation, I would have realized she was joking with me, but I was so past seeing any humor in my pain at that point!
They took me back to a delivery room and the nurse explained that if I was not dilated to a 4 within one hour they would send me home and have me come back later.. I assume that they have a lot of first time moms who go to the hospital too early to do anything.. The nurse checked my cervix and with a surprised and slightly impressed look told me I was at a 5 and they would admit me and get my epidural right away! Hallelujah! I had made it!! Haha.. The anesthesiologist was busy with another lady, so I had to wait about 10 mins for him to come in.. Once he got there they had me lay flat on my side while he inserted the needle.. Steve held my hand and watched as he did this.. I could hardly feel the needle!!! Have you seen those things?! They are huge! So the fact that I couldn't feel it was a miracle! Oh and I'm pretty sure they put 'Felix Felicis' in those epidurals! Those things are magical!!  Almost immediately the potion took effect and I had to have help getting my legs situated..from there it was just a lot of waiting and checking and waiting.. Finally about 4:30 pm the nurse said we were ready to push.. She said my doctor had shown up and was going to help with delivery..  Yes!  At 4:55 pm on June 25, 2012 , Charlotte Bowman was born weighing 6lbs 14oz and 19inches long..