Dash's birth story

So I was scheduled for an induction on July 31st at 8:30. I really wanted to go into labor myself, so I changed my OB appointment for that week for an earlier time and a different doctor. I knew I wanted them to strip my membranes to see if it would jump start labor. At that appointment, I was 3cm dilated with little cervical change. Apparently I saw the evil membrane stripper OB. It hurt pretty badly when she did it and all that day and night I had intense contractions and cramping.
Around 11:00 that evening, we decided that we were ready to go to the hospital. I was having really bad back pain and the contractions were three minutes apart, lasting for one minute, and had been going on for an hour. How could this not be labor?? Plus, I was in substantial pain.
We get to the hospital and this fabulous nurse, Anna, checks us in. I told her about my appointment from that day and she said, well, just so you know, the stripping may not have worked. Yeah, but as bad as all this is, let's hope it did.
So she checks me and nope..3 cm and no change. They let me stay another hour and when they rechecked me and I still had no change, they gave me a shot of morphine and phenegren (I know that's spelled wrongly) and sent me home.
To where I couldn't sleep because I was still having contractions and the medicine made me feel horrible. I ended up taking a bath and a unisom at 4am.
The next day, with my dad and my mom here, I slept. I continued to have uncomfortable cramping but I was able to deal with it. My mom took Delaney to swim class at 4:45 and around 5:00 I decided that I was tired of being in pain. I couldn't breathe through them anymore and I figured if I STILL hadn't made any progress then they could give me another shot and I'd go in the next morning and be induced.
Zap and I head to the hospital, hoping for change but not expecting it.
We got checked in and I got checked and TA-DA - 4 cm and thinning! I got the okay to stay!!
Dr. Burtner admitted me and my nurse came on shift. Her name is Tracy and she is from Australia. She got my IV fluids started and did the blood draw so that I could get ready for my epidural (I knew I wasn't that tough). She was really fun. She also gave us a lot of really useful advice on how to get through the contractions better and her advice helped us considerably.
So for the next few hours we hung out - we got admitted between 6 and 7pm on Thursday.
My epidural doctor came in and she was really nice. It went so easy, but after about fifteen minutes we realized I had only a left sided block. I was able to feel contractions and everything on my right side. However, the pain that I was in from the contractions was minimal.
I think they checked me at my epidural and I was up to 6cm. The anesthesiologist thought that I might labor so quickly that I wouldn't even need the right block. We spent a few hours debating whether to redo the epidural or not.
However, around 11:30 pm or so, the contractions got more intense and I got myself psyched up and worried about the pain level with pushing, etc. and asked for the epidural to be redone.
This time I had a complete block. I was really numb. I had a hard time moving my legs and getting into the positions I wanted to be in.
This was around 12pm or so and Zap and I decided to sleep.
I woke up about an hour later with a lot of pressure and thought "I should probably call Tracy and let her know"; so she comes in and I tell her I've got pressure and at this point my entire body begins shaking uncontrollably. This had happened earlier in the evening and they told me that it's the body responding to things going so quickly, so I knew we were very close.
Tracy goes to check me and she says "well no wonder you were feeling pressure; there's a head".

In rushes in all the nurses, the OB, the OB resident and they get suited up. A few minutes later I start to push. I was able to tell a little bit when I needed to push, but my epidural was very strong.
I pushed for three contractions and at 1:26 AM on July 31st, 2009, Dash was here! My first thoughts were that he was tiny!! Compared to how Delaney is now, I couldn't get over how little he seemed. I also thought that he looked a lot like Delaney when she was born. He's got the same dark hair and the same deep blue eyes. Now, five days later, I think he looks a LOT like Zap.
He's a very mellow baby so far. He sleeps a lot and he doesn't make too big of a fuss.

Our recovery has been great. Dash is a wonderful nurser with a great latch. He does have to be poked and prodded to go past five minutes or so, but he'll get better.
I feel wonderful. I had no tearing at all, which makes the recovery so much easier. The hardest part was the contractions that come with nursing, which are more intense the second time around.

I'm thrilled to be home and to be learning how this adjustment period is going to go. More on that later. For now, nursing and dinner while Delaney and Zap are away at swimming class.