here's how it happened... beware of long and boring post

After I had Natalie, and I started this blog, I put up a detailed account of the day she was born. So its only fair that I do the same for Samantha. Its good to write it down anyway so I don't forget. Last time I used the texts between me and my sister Melanie to help me remember how it happened, this time my wonderful mother-in-law was my note taker.
Now as you know I was past my due date....4 days past my due date. It was Sunday morning and I was dreading going to church! I was very much over the whole "you're still pregnant?" and the "have you tried this yet?". I had reached my limit the sunday before. So as I sat at my computer, chatting with my sister Catherine (lame-o doesn't have a blog to link to), I looked at Benjamin and just started crying. He looked back at me, concerned, and asked me what was wrong, my response was only "I just want this to be over". The uncertainty of when and how Samantha would arrive was just too much for me. My mother, who had been here for a week, had gone home the day before....I was just done. I stood up, decided to go shower and get ready for church (maybe even shave my legs so I wouldn't have to wear panty hose), and suck it up. This was at about 11 am.
As I was in the shower, perhaps after I shaved my legs, I can't remember exactly, I felt what I thought might be a REAL contraction. I had a few more as I dried off and brushed my teeth. Then the next one hit and I decided to sit down and see if it went away. It lessened a little, but not too much. This went on as I got dressed and did my hair (seriously people, I looked good). I told Ben that he should probably get someone to teach his lesson at church, because even if these contractions went away, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to go and sit there for 3 hours while I felt like this. He made some calls and by 12:05 I said "you need to call your mom, she needs to come over". My contractions were clearly getting stronger, some 2 minutes apart, some 5 to 7, but definitely stronger.
Ben called his mom and she and Andrew, got themselves together, got in the car, and were on their way. By the time they got here around 1:20 ish, I was sitting on the porch, ready to GO!

Natalie had been put down for a nap, and we were outta there. Andrew, being the wonderful uncle that he is, and our good friend Karen, took great care of Natalie that day and I know she didn't miss us for a minute.

Anyway.....we got to the hospital, and here's the breakdown.
1:50- arrived at the hospital, I was checked shortly after that and was 4cm. That's 1 cm more than I ever got to with Natalie so at this point I was feeling pretty good about being able to do this thing the right way.
3:15- epidural. I think I handled the pain really well and tried to wait it out as long as I could, but I reached my limit.
3:40-Dr. came in to break my water, she checked me and I was 5 cm
4:00- this is when I started feeling LOTS of pressure

4:10- more epidural. There was a spot on my left side that I could clearly still feel, thank goodness the extra little shot made it go away
4:20- oxygen....just the beginning of my breathing/not breathing issues
4:45- 8 cm..YAHOO!
5:30- 10 cm....crap this means I have to start doing something now huh?
5:45- started pushing. Now let me tell you....I was very naive. My sisters are amazing baby having machines....all 4 of them. We're talkin' a few hours of labor, a few pushes, and you have a baby. I seem to work a bit differently. None of them have ever made their due date, let alone go late, so why I thought I would suddenly morph into one of them, I'm not so sure. After a few pushes I said "ummmm, how much longer do I have to do this?" and the Dr. of course looked at me and said "what did you think, it was just going to slide out?" my response was quite honestly "yes! I did".
Well....she didn't. I pushed for a little over an hour (I know, that's not THAT long) Inbetween each set of contractions I'd look at Ben and say "i can't do this anymore, I'm too tired". My upper body was completely gone. I was pulling on these handles as hard as I could and thought I would die. I woke up the next day convinced the Jillian had worked me out. But I did it. Somehow I did it.....
6:53- Samantha's born....NINE POUNDS TEN AN A HALF OUNCES!!!!!!!! and suddenly I felt completely justified in my whining and threats of giving up!!!! (yes, I'm aware that an hour is nothing compared to how long some women push....and they are greater women than me!)I won't go into everything that happened afterwards, but it includes 3 "blue spells" in which Samantha did in fact turn blue, and 2 days in the NICU. But all is well now (inculding 8 hours of sleep some nights), no doubt due, in part, to more prayers.