So here's how it all happened...

I was determined to have Kate born before Christmas. I had read and heard that sometimes castor oil can help induce labor. It's basically a laxative and in the process of doing other things to other internal organs it can sometimes cause contractions in the uterus to start. I had heard this and debated it for a few weeks because I knew if it did nothing to induce labor I would simply be miserable for several hours and the bathroom would become my new best friend.

I caved and decided to down about 2 ounces of castor oil at about 8 pm on Friday the 19th. Though I did have some fun for several hours, contractions finally kicked in at about 3 am on the 20th. To be honest I wasn't 100% sure they were contractions because they started pretty strong and seemed to be a constant pain. I had wondered if it was just stomach cramps from all the fun I'd been having the last several hours. After laying in bed for about 45 minutes and having them come and go and be at more regular intervals vs constant, I decided to wake Keith. We got ready for LDS hospital and left the house at about 4 am and arrived about 20 minutes later. They checked me in and showed us to our room.

At about 4:45 the nurse was able to check me and I was dilated to 4 cm at that point and almost all the way effaced. She said they would go ahead and admit me (YES!!!). Since I'm a wimp and wasn't having fun with the contractions I went ahead and got the epidural right away. It was put in about 5:15/5:30-ish. About an hour later I was checked again and was dilated to 8 cm. Labor wasn't that bad considering I had the epidural. I was pretty much numb from the waist down. Keith and I hung out in the room since I was bed ridden. They checked me periodically and I was pretty much ready to go (100% dilated, 100% effaced) by 9:30/10 am but my water still had not broken. They had called the doctor and the doctor would have to come manually break it and that's pretty much what took a lot of the time. The on call doctor ending up coming at about 11:30 (I think) and broke my water. The staff waited a little while longer before they wanted me to do anything and starting at about 12 I started doing "practice pushes" with just Keith and the nurse. This is by far the most awkward position ever. I'm laying on my back, Keith holds my left leg and the nurse holds my right leg and I'm supposed to put my hands behind my knees to hold my legs up, take a deep breath, hold it and push for 10 seconds and repeat about 3 times every time a contraction happens. The nurse tells me to keep my arms loose. Let me just say, try holding yourself in this position while keeping your arms loose, it's easier said than done. 

We practice pushed for about an hour until my doctor joined us. By that time we had made good progress and they could see the top of her head and already saw her dark curly hair. We spent the next 45 minutes pushing and finally our little girl was out! Honestly that part wasn't as bad as I expected. After she was out they cleared our her nose and mouth, Keith cut her umbilical cord and they rested Kate on my chest while they finished up "downstairs." My first initial reaction was, "Oh my gosh, she looks Asian!" Once she opened up her beautiful slanted eyes I could tell she belonged to Keith. The worst of the worst was getting stitched up. I don't know what happened to my lovely epidural at that point but it hurt more than anything and seemed to take forever. Keith saw it all and he made some pretty painful looking faces just watching the doctor tug at me with the stitches.

Overall labor was about 11 hours which is what I was expecting. It seemed to go faster than that though and I have to say, I'm a total advocate of modern medicine even when it comes to child birth. I don't think I would've been able to enjoy bringing my daughter into this world as much as I did without the epidural.

It's crazy how easily it is to fall in love with such a complete stranger. Even though she's only been in our world for 3 days, Keith and I love her to death. We love just holding her and watching her sleep. Keith is a natural and took really great care of both of us in the hospital and continues to do so. Lucky for us he was able to take the next two weeks off work to help out while I recover and I'm so grateful for that. I can barely get in and out of bed without subjecting myself to pain.