Birth Story!!

I am pleased to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby daughter, Rachel Louise Wood!
On Sunday, June 22nd, Duane and I were laying down for the night. We were talking about how there was still no progress with my dialation, and we pretty much resolved ourselves to having the induction on Tuesday. Duane pointed at my stomach and said "You better get out here little lady!"
As he fell sleep, I laid there and thought about how I couldn't sleep again. Next thing you know, around 11:45 p.m., I felt my mucous plug come out!! As I realized what was happening, I felt a gush so I ran to the bathroom. Sure enough -- my water broke! Duane started running around, trying to figure out what he should do, and I called the doctor, who told me to head to the hospital. No matter what I tried, the water kept coming, so I leaked all the way to the hospital. As a matter of fact, when we were taken to triage to determine whether we should be admitted, the nurse took one look at me, and she said "We don't even need to worry about these tests. Your water definitely broke! Let's go!"
My wish was to hold off on epidural for as long as possible. I was still only 2 centimeters in the beginning, so they started me on pitocin to induce contractions. I wanted to feel some labor pains, so I waited a while and breathed my way through the pain. I got a local anesthetic, and when I asked for the second dose at 4 centimeters, the nurse recommended I get my epidural because the anesthesiologist was on the floor helping someone else. I declined, and 5 minutes later, she basically told me I needed to get it. I believe she just wanted to make her job easier, but I was in no mood to argue any further, so I agreed.
Luckily, the next nurse was much more helpful. She constantly flipped me back and forth and let me know what each beep and click on the monitors meant. Once I made it to 5 centimeters, things went quickly. I went to 7 centimeters, 8 centimeters, and then 9+ centimeters within a couple of hours!
My doctor showed up just in time for delivery. Pushing was soooo hard. I didn't feel any pain, but it was difficult to hold my breath and push down hard. I asked how long pushing could take, and they told me it varied from 1-3 hours with a first child. We started pushing at 12:15 p.m. Rachel Louise was born at 12:46 p.m., almost exactly 13 hours after my water broke! She came out face up, which is not the way she is supposed to come out (I learned later that this is why the nurse kept flipping me). She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz (perfect size!) and she was about 19.5 inches long.
Because she was facing wrong, they had to suction her out and I ended up having a 3rd degree tear and a vaginal wall laceration. Needless to say, this is a bit painful! I am on several different medications to help with the pain and swelling, but I am recovering daily and having my healthy baby girl here definitely helps!! I will post more pictures later. I just wanted to share our story and thank everyone who visited and helped us through these last several days!