Later that evening I started having more contractions than usual, but they were never consistent. I headed to the grocery store after that night and thats when the contractions really started picking up. I could tell then that they were more serious ones and that it was definitely possible that I was headed into labor. However I didn't really want to be because I had been having insomnia and I was so dang tired. I wasn't feeling awesome so we picked up some KFC for dinner, and I spent the rest of the evening having semi uncomfortable contractions, but they still weren't consistently closer together.
We put Sydney to bed and I decided to try to rest a bit just in case I was in labor. I wasn't able to sleep at all because the contractions were getting more and more painful, and I finally agreed that I was probably in labor whether I was ready or not! I woke Marshall up around 10:45 and told him to pack things up so we could head to the hospital. I figured I could go in and get my epidural and then try to get some rest before it was pushing time. My Mom and Dad were kind enough to come hang out at our house so we could leave Sydney sleeping at home.
We pulled into the hospital at 11:50 Thursday evening. We were taken to labor and delivery where we were put in a triage room. And then we waited. We waited for them to come in and give me a gown to change into. We waited for the admission people. We waited and waited some more for them to finally hook me up to the monitor to watch my contractions. I stayed on the monitor for a LONG time, they finally came in and checked me, I was at a 5 and they finally declared I was in fact in labor and that I could be taken to my own room. But first we had to wait for them to give me an IV and draw blood. And then we waited some more for who knows what. All this time I was having super painful contractions.
I was finally taken to my own room and hooked up to IV fluids, and I learned that I couldn't have the epidural until they gave me so much fluids through the IV and until they heard back about my blood work. Talk about the worst news ever. By this point I was shaking all over from the pain and because I was progressing so fast. They gave me some meds in my IV that helped a little bit to take the edge off the pain. Finally the time came and I was able to get the epidural. Hallelujah. I love those epidurals. Amazing I tell ya. Right after I received the epidural, Dr. Salisbury (who was on call, and who also delivered Sydney) came in and checked me again, I was at a 7, and then broke my water. Just a short time later they checked again and I was a 9. And then just minutes later I was a 10 and it was time to push! I pushed for 13 minutes and just 4 hours after walking into the hospital Landen Marshall DeCoria arrived at 3:53 am on Friday the 17th! Everything went SO fast and I hardly had time to process that I was in labor before he arrived!
He is now a week old and we just love him! We are adjusting to once again having a newborn, and changing lots of diapers and not getting lots of sleep. We feel so blessed to have Landen in our family!
