April 30, 2007:
My contractions began yesterday morning at 7:15 am. They fluctuated between 5-9 minutes apart. Around 8:30 am I called the doctor to let him know they were coming consistently at 5-7 minutes. He told us to come down to the hospital and get checked out as this was probably the real deal since I was now a week past my due date. We gathered up all our bags and headed down to Concord. Much to my dismay I was only 1 cm dilated and we were sent home to wait it out. The contractions got progressivley stronger all the time, but we were told to wait until they came every 4 minutes for an hour before heading back to the hospital. After 13 hours they finally got there and we had to leave the 'Amazing Race' and go back to the hospital. Despite 13 hours of contractions I was still only 1 cm dilated but they kept me in there this time because the pain was significant. I was lucky enough to be having back labor which is when the baby is turned sunny side up and puts pressure on your back, making labor more painful. We got into our room around 9:30 pm and had 12 hours ahead of us. I spent most of the labor standing up in my room. Around 4 am the pain was too much to take and I was only 4 cms dilated. With so much progress still to be made I decided to finally get the epidural. This was heavenly and allowed me to get about an hours rest. By 7 am my water had broken and I was 10 cms dilated. I started pushing around 8:30 am and our baby girl arrived at 9:48am. Casey Grace Duval weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. What a miracle!