At long last we arrived at the hospital. The contractions had gone from seven seconds apart to an ongoing contraction that didn't seem to end. Mark practically carried me into the hospital. We didn't have to say much to the nurses when we walked in. They took me right to the prep room and had me lay on the bed. The nurse that spoke with Mark on the phone checked me and said, "Oh my gosh -- you've dilated to an eight."
What does that mean?! All I knew was that "not dilated" meant that she wasn't coming yet so what does an eight mean? The fact that she was surprised frightened me a little. Apparently it wasn't normal to go from a zero to an eight in an hour and a half. Was something wrong with me?
They took me to the delivery room and it was then that I discovered the definition of bliss. Epidural. I could feel sanity returning to me as the pain faded and eventually vanished. They monitored my contractions and I can honestly say that I prefer watching them on a screen as opposed to experiencing them. Mark started making phone calls and my mother was there within minutes and furious that she hadn't been contacted sooner. I explained to her that we had only known about it for about 20 minutes and assured her that she was the first one to be notified.
At 9:03, after 5 hours of labor, our sweet Bethany entered the world. She was 5 pounds and 15 ounces. She was classified as premature so she had to stay in the hospital an extra day just in case. It was so worth everything to get her here and I'm glad that I did it. It is an experience that I will never forget.
