At 3:00 AM today I gave up trying to sleep. The contractions were still happening and at times the pain was pretty severe. I remember my doctor saying that you can make Braxton Hicks go away by taking a bath, drinking water, etc. So I had a huge glass of water and hopped into a hot shower. We have a steam unit, so I set the shower to steam and hung out in the sauna for a while. I got out of the shower around 4:00 AM and still was having the contractions, so I got dressed and went down to watch some television.
Around 5AM I started timing them - they were about 10-15 minutes apart. They werent totally predictable, the pain wasnt overwhelming, and they werent getting any stronger. Jeff got up at 5:45 to get ready for work. When he came down I told him I might be in labor, but wasnt sure - so to keep himself prepared at work. We chatted througout the day as I sat and watched television. Around 11AM I decided to walk to Starbucks. At this point the contractions were about 5 minutes apart so I called him and he decided to come home from work. He arrived home at around 11:30 and got ready to help me time contractions. Of course, they stopped.
All along I had been worried it was a false alarm, and how here I was after 8 hours of contractions finding that it might be true. But...over the next hour they picked up again. Jeff and I timed them all day. My doctor told me to call the office if contractions were 5 minutes apart for at least one hour. Over the day they would constantly be 5 minutes aparat for abotu 30 minutes ... but then they would be 15 minutes. It was random and unpredicable, so we continued to wait.
Finally around 4-5 pm I was getting more regular contractions (all less than 8 minutes) and they were continually getting stronger. At about 6 they were 5 minutes apart for 45 minutes - with several in the 3-4 minute range. I called the doctor and she told me to head into Labor & Delivery to get checked.
It wasnt a moment too soon. In the car the contractions were about 2 minutes apart and I was out of my mind in pain. Waiting to get into L&D and get a nurse to check me out was the longest hour of my life. While she was timing my contractions my water broke ... I was being admitted! It was about 7:30.
I was brought into a delivery room, hooked up to IV's and machines, and told to wait for the doctor and approval for an epidural. I dont know how long it took to get the epidural but each minute felt like an hour. Finally with the epidural I felt immediate relief and literally thought "this isnt so bad". Again, perhaps a bit premature.
After the epidural my contractions slowed down and I was given pitocin to increase the urgency of my contractions. While my contractions did become much closer together, they also became much stronger. I continued to complain to the nurse about the level of my pain and finally told her it was just unbearable. In order to get my epidural increased they had to have the doctor come to see me first. She was paged a few times and not quickly responding. Eventually another doctor came because my doctor appeared to be MIA. Turns out I was in so much pain because it was time for Baby Schneider to come - everyone was shocked.
It was just a bit before midnight. I was told I couldnt get any more drugs because it was time to push, everyone in the room started running around in a painic. It appears that the arrival of Baby Schneider shocked more than Jeff and I - the entire L&D staff wasnt expecting the baby yet either! My doctor was paged (with more urgency this time I assume) and she showed up a few minutes later. At 1:13 Brooke Angeline became an official member of the Schneider Family.
It was a crazy experience. Jeff and I will always remember the panic Brooke's arrival inspired in the hospital staff. I think they were all more suprised by her arrival than her own parents were :) Its great that she wanted to meet us sooner than expected, we were ready!
