Well, we weren’t planning on actually having the baby for another week, but when we went in for our checkup on Monday, the doctor said that since I had signs of pre-eclampsia (mainly high blood pressure and swelling) she was going to send us to the hospital that night.
The plan was to give me 2 Meso pills that night and induce labor at 6:00 Tuesday morning. Well, one Meso pill at 8:30pm and me trying to go fall asleep was all it took. My water broke at exactly midnight. After not having any pain for 30 minutes after that, the strong contractions finally kicked in. There never was 5 minutes between contractions because when mine kicked in they were 2 minutes apart at most. When I was dilated to about 4 cm, I asked for Nubain in my IV. That let me put myself into a trance-like state for the minute or 2 between contractions. I was completely dilated in only 5 hours and a half hour of pushing was all it took for Samantha to come out. She was born on July 11, 2000 at 5:30 am.
I really lucked out with such a short labor and a wonderful coach, even though he doesn’t think he helped much. His just being there made my labor and delivery much more exciting than scary.
Here are a few pictures of our special day to share with you:
Samantha Riley, born July 11, 2000
Baby and Mommy after a long night
Our First Family Photo
And here is the sleepy girl after the latest round of visitors.