One Week Ago Today...

A week ago last night Pete said to me "let's go into labor tonight". I said "ideally, I'd like to get a good night's sleep, go into labor around 5 in the morning and have the baby during the day". 5:15 the next morning my contractions started. A little after 6:00 Henry was lying in bed with me and I sent him in to tell his Papa that he might be staying home that day. I got up and ate a little breakfast. At 7:00 we called the midwife. She said to check back in in a couple hours. I showered, made sure I had everything in my bag, and kept going into poses kind of like this:
At 8AM I asked Pete to call the midwife back, my contractions were feeling pretty serious and I was fighting getting sick with each one. She told us to come on in. Pete packed up the car, Mom included a few key items, I tried to get my boots on and gave Henry big hugs and kisses. We left the house at 8:40. It was rush hour and raining hard. Two factors we hadn't considered. I was having contractions so intense that anyone glancing over from another car wouldn't have any doubts about what was going on in our car. Somewhere on Willow road I became very thankful that Mom had packed the last couple things into the car...a large yogurt container (with a lid) and a wet washcloth. I lost all of my breakfast.
We pulled up to the front entrance of Evanston Northwestern a little after 9AM. We had forgotten that you could pull right up to the Women's Hospital entrance, which would have saved me the long hallway trip in the wheelchair. I was pushed by a very friendly security guy who wouldn't stop talking about his own four kids. When he pushed me up to the labor and delivery desk he shouted "ladies- we're havin' a baby!" I felt badly that I wasn't able to thank him.
They put us in a room and asked me to put the gown on and left us alone. We were able to get my boots and pants off, but by then I was feeling different- I told Pete to go get someone. He shouted into the hallway "I think we're having a baby in here?!?" and a nurse came in. At that point they checked me and I was dilated to 5 1/2 cm. The midwife wasn't there yet. The contractions were so hard and fast that I told Pete I thought I wanted to do an epidural. I hardly had the energy to put into feeling guilty about it. They started trying to put an IV in me (unsuccessfully) and I kept trying to cope with the contractions for about 10 minutes. At this point I was unable to open my eyes anymore, but I heard the midwife come in. "Kathy- I think I want the epidural!" I said. She said okay, and then checked me only to find out I was at 10 cm. She said "Betsy- we're going to start pushing. This baby's coming in about 15 minutes." There was much noise and fuss (on my part) and I guess my elbow kept bumping the controls on the bed- causing the t.v. to turn on and off and the foot of the bed to raise and lower. Pete was very good about wiping my sweaty face with a cold washcloth and otherwise being supportive. He estimates that I pushed about seven times. At 10:00 AM on the dot, my baby was born. Pete shouted "it's a girl!" as she was placed on my chest. and we both gazed at Clara with tears and wonder. And now she's a whole week old!