How It All Went Down (from Bethany's perspective)

Being that this was the first time I was pregnant and about to go through labor, I really didn't know what to expect. But here's how I thought it would have gone...

One morning or night, I would start feeling contractions. Warren would wake up, we would do a few breathing exercises until we felt it time to go to the hospital. We would pick up the already packed hospital bag, go to the car, drive to the hospital and check in. Once there, I would tough it out for a bit and then decide to get the drugs. While I was waiting for them to tell me to push, I would touch up my makeup, fix my hair and possibly take a nap so that I would be ready and looking good for those first post birth pictures.

As you all know or I'm sure are thinking as you were reading the above, the best laid plans are always foiled and nothing every goes as you suspect it to. Here's what ending up happening...

I felt a contraction at 3am but convinced myself it couldn't be real because I was determined not to have the baby yet. I had made a chocolate cake the night before and we were supposed to have a ham dinner with my family which I was determined not to miss. I started feeling one or two more contractions but it wasn't that bad so again I dismissed it as fake labor or just my body prepping for delivery later in the week. You see, I was 5 days away from my due date and I was determined to keep living the work free baby free life for at least another few days. Contractions started getting a little more intense but they were still managable. At this point I conceded to letting Warren pack a hospital bag. I had not done this yet because I was determined that if I didn't have something that important finished yet, I couldn't go into labor. Obviously I was wrong :) While we weren't really timing things, the contractions finally got intense enough that we decided to call the hospital. After being bounced around to 3 different people, we finally got the doctor who half heartedly said that we could come to the hospital. At this point the contractions were intense enough that I didn't know how I would be able to sit in the car and make it to the hospital, but I just figured I was weak in my pain tolerance at that I was probably only at the beginning stages of labor. Almost ready to leave for the hospital, I suddenly felt a lot of pressure and ran to the bathroom thinking that I was about to pee my pants or worse. And then just like that, my body starting pushing and I knew that a baby was going to pop out. From there, here are the bullet points:
"Warren, come HERE!!!"
"What? What? What?"
"It's coming out!!!!"
"NO NO NO we are going to the hospital!
"NO WE AREN'T- get a tOWEL!!!!
"No come on- we have to go to the hospital! Please please we have to go!"
"This baby is coming- call 911!"
I'm on the ground in our hallway leaning against the closed bathroom door, pushing and the head is starting to come out. Police man arrives. EMTs arrive. Half Burlingame fire department arrives. I'm sitting on hallway floor surrounded by over half dozen men all chanting "you can do it. Push, push, push." Hour and half later, baby pops out. I look at the baby- first thought "holy crap she's much bigger than I thought- no wonder it hurt to push that thing out." My second thought- "I am such a hypocrite. I made fun of my neighbors for having a home birth and now I just had one. What a cruel twist of fate." Firemen pick me up, plop me on gurney, we squish into the Viking elevator (Warren had to walk down the stairs with the baby cause only me the gurney and one EMT fit in the elevator). We whiz down the El Camino, pull up to the hospital and they rush us into labor and delivery.

While I know you can never plan for what happens, this is something I never could have even IMAGINED in my wildest dreams. Lessons learned:
1. When your mother says that she goes through the transition stage quickly, have her define what that means. I assumed when my mom said that, that she meant an hour or two. Turns out she meant 10 minutes. That would have been good to know before the baby came.
2. You never know what you can handle until you go through it. I under estimated my ability to tolerant pain. I thought because I could still handle the pain that I couldn't be far along. I was wrong.
3. If you ever want to have a really positive birthing experience, invite some firemen. These guys were so pumped and happy and enthustastic. It was like having a group of cheerleaders there. Also, we got an invitation to their annual pancake breakfast. If nothing else, that makes the home birth worth it :) LOL!