My labor and delivery was very quick. I wasn't even sure that I was in labor at the beginning.

At about 8:30 pm I started feeling strange cramping. I didn't pay much attention to them because they didn't hurt & they were frequent. About an hour later, I started paying attention to them because they started to get a little more intense (but still didn't hurt) and about 6 - 7 minutes apart.

By 10:30, I finally decided to call my doctor just to get his opinion. He said I probably wasn't in labor because the contractions weren't very consistent, but said go ahead & go to the hospital. I got there around 11:00 pm & the nurse hooked me up to a monitor. She watched me for about an hour, and wasn't convinced I was in labor.

I was only dialated to 3 cm. As for me, I was quite sure. The contractions were starting to hurt! The nurse made me walk around the halls of the hospital for about an hour. At 1:05 am, the nurse checked me again. I was dialated to 5 cm.

While she was checking, my water broke. It had some meconium in it, so the nurse notified my doctor. They took me to the labor & delivery room and started to set things up.

My contractions were VERY intense now. The nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural & I said yes. They had me lay on my side & had paged the anesthesiologist when all of a sudden I had to push. The nurse checked me & I had dialated to 10 cm. (In about 10 minutes)

Things began to speed up. Before I knew it, my legs were in the stirrups & the doctor was telling me to push. Three pushes later, my son was born. (7 pounds 10 ounces, at 1:34 am) 5 hours start to finish, I couldn't ask for anything better.

Ayrton