Our Internet is still not working! It crashed last week as I was typing up this post. I'm at Chick-fil-A right now so I can finally put it up. Hopefully our internet will be up and running soon!

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Thank you all for your comments! We're doing very well here and are easing in to our new schedule. Maddie is nursing like a pro and sleeping for 2-3 hour stretches at a time so I can catnap, which I'm so grateful for! My mom is here, and both she and Stu have been so helpful.

So anyway, for those interested to know, here is the birth story. Let me preface this by saying please don't hate me! :-)

I went to work on Monday morning, just like any other day. At about 10 I started having mild contractions that were only slightly more intense than the ones I had been having frequently over the past few weeks. At this point I thought nothing of it and finished packing up the samples I was shipping to another lab. The contractions continued regularly, but didn't increase in intensity until around 1, when I began to finally believe that I might be in labor. At this point, I decide to wait for my midwife's appointment at 2:15, and then walked over to the other side of the hospital, since my coworker needed me to bring over some supplies. I hung out over there for a while, and we talked about whether I should come back to work after the appointment. She figured I really was in labor and told me to go home afterwards.

So I walked to my midwife's appointment (I live and work in the Texas Medical Center, so my midwife is close by.) and waited for a long while in the waiting room while the contractions came on stronger. They were painful, but not anything I couldn't handle. When the nurse called me back, I mentioned that I might be in labor, so when the midwife came in around 4, she went ahead and checked me and found that I was already 4 cm. dilated. Since I lived down the street, she let me go home for an hour or two to grab a bite to eat and take a nice bath. She would notify the hospital that I was on my way.

Stu picked me up from my appointment, and we drove over to Smoothie King. I called my mom to let her know what was going on, and then we headed back home. My contractions at this point were about 5 minutes apart, and still coming on stronger, but I really wanted to rest at home before going to the hospital.

At home, I drew a bath and hopped in, sipping my smoothie. The midwife on call called me to see how I was doing (There are 4 midwives in this practice, and I've met and really like all of them), and to get an idea as to when I would arrive. I told her I was planning on coming in within the hour, and that I just wanted to relax a bit. This was fine with her, so I hung up the phone and tried to get more comfortable.

With the next contraction my water broke, and suddenly I had the very surprising and painful urge to push. Stu was finishing up grabbing all my things and helped me my dry off. I told him I thought I might want an epidural after all, but he being a med student and all figured I was a little past that point. We rushed to the car, pausing to let me get over each contraction. We drove the 3 blocks to the hospital and decided to valet park, and Stu yelled for a wheelchair.

Stu was really so great through the whole thing--he practically ran me upstairs to the labor and delivery floor. At the check-in station, where the guy was asking for my information, another contraction hit, and one of the nurses grabbed me and took me into a room. She checked me and yelled that I was complete, and that I was ready to push. A doctor rushed in and guided me through the pushing, and Maddie was born at 5:46. The nurse commented that she had never delivered anyone without having time to at least start an IV. My midwife didn't even make it in time.

They let me hold Maddie for an hour or so while they stitched me up (I tore a bit) before they took her to be weighed and measured. It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to finally hold her and see what she looked like and just get to love on her.

So anyway, that's my story! I think I'm going to get back to my newborn now. :-)