The Robinson Rundown: Heading to the Hospital

It's Saturday night and me, mom, and Jeff went to Sunset Grill for dinner after walking/shopping all day in the mall. Their goal was to get me to go into labor. It worked. Right in the middle of my Caesar salad I felt contractions. I didn't say anything at first because I wanted to make sure. I knew if I said anything that mom and Jeff would jump up immediately and leave the restaurant. I didn't want another false alarm like we had on the 24th...I thought I was in labor but they sent me home. They said come back when they are five minutes apart. So, I sat at the table timing them. When they were five minutes apart...I told mom and Jeff. Sure enough, they jumped up and said Let's go...I told them that I wasn't feeling any pain and I thought we had some time. It didn't hep much...but after getting in the truck...I managed to stall them and make a run by the ice cream store "Armadillo's" which is very close to the hospital.... so I could be sure that this wasn't a false alarm. I managed to stall them for two hours. It is now 8:30PM and mom pointed out what she thought was a full moon and convinced me to go. The pain was starting to come on but still nothing too bad.

They checked me in the hospital and I was only dilated 3cm. By 11:00PM they told me I could go home if I wanted and come back in the morning....and by that time the contractions were so bad that there was no way I was walking. They told me I would have to wait til morning to get an epidural since I wasn't progressing quickly. It is now midnight and we decided to stay. Mom and Jeff make a quick run to the house to let Saber outside and to get my hospital bag. I love being a light packer. I had everything I needed in one little bag for me & Tyler. So when they got back to the hospital...I was surprised that Jeff had brought the entire house with him. He brought three pillows, the Boppy, computer, camcorder, etc. There was so much stuff that after delivery I had to walk to my room so we could use the wheelchair to carry all the stuff!

Mom & Jeff arrived back at the hospital within 30 minutes. It's 12:30 and by 2:00AM I was begging for an epidural. I was only 4cm dilated. I didn't think I could have one until 7:00AM but to my surprise again...they set me up! By 3:00AM I was feeling no pain. Mom is asleep on the couch and Jeff is asleep in my tiny hospital bed beside me. I couldn't sleep at all because the blood pressure cuff kept going off every 15 minutes and it was very tight! Besides, I was too excited to sleep! I still was in disbelief that this was all happening!

My doctor arrived around 7:00AM and said I was still not dilating quickly enough. They then started the Pitocin to increase the contractions. He said he was going to church and by the time he got back I would be ready. I still didn't believe I would be delivering a baby this morning!

Apparently, the doctor left for church and as soon as he did the nurses paged him to come back as I was ready! He was expected after noon and he arrived at 10:46AM. At 9:30 they told me to prepare to push. They said they would give me a few practice pushes. So, this was still not real to me...I thought I would practice push and then hours later do the real thing....but I practiced two or three times and then they said, Okay, this next time is for real...give us a good push. They counted to ten and I did it again. I did that about 24 times in the time frame of about one hour and out he came. We expected about 7lbs and he was 5lbs 7 oz. I recall asking them to put him back in since he wasn't done but he was full term. His due date was August 7th and he was born July 29th. Close enough! The NICU team came in the room in case there were any emergencies since I was having a few medical issues but what a blessing...everything went extremely smooth and it was very easy. He came out clean as a whistle and very happy and alert. He did decide to stick his arm out above his head causing me 12 stitches but it was still the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. It was truly the most amazing day of my life. It could not have been any better.

2:19AM...waiting on my epidural!