One more...then we will take a break...but only for a bit. :-)

This is the birth story, of one of my coolest, and closest friends. She is flippin' awesome. Here's to you Olivia & Shelton!

The day Gabriel came into the world was a rainy, gloomy one. I had lots of pressure the night before and the doctor said I was already dialated to 3 centimeters! I remember calling my good friend and birthing teacher, Brianna, to make sure I wasn't already in labor. Contractions were coming about every four minutes when I headed to bed. 
Tuesday morning I got up as usual and got ready for work. As soon as I woke the contractions continued. They were still about four to five minutes apart, so I went about my day. I warned Shelton, my husband, that I may come home early if they continued, or got worse. I left the house at about 7:15am. I arrived at work and was only there about 15 minutes when the contractions got harder. I immediately knew these were no longer the "practice contractions" known as Braxton Hicks. I live about 35 minutes away from work and my hospital is only about 10 minutes from work. Feeling confident that I knew what was going on, I headed home. 
When I got there I drew a bath hoping to relax and possibly soothe any discomfort. The contractions continued to get harder and closer together. I had called my parents, who live an hour away, to come up for the birth. When they arrived my husband was timing the contractions and they were coming about every 2 minutes and lasting a minute or more. By this time it was 12:00pm. It was time to head out! The ride to the hospital was pretty uncomfortable. When I got there they put me in a room and I met my nurse, Amanda. She checked to see how far along I was and to my surprise, I was almost 7 centimeters dialated! What a relief! One of the first things she asked me was if I was going to have an epidural. I firmly stated that I wanted NO epidural or other form of pain reliver. She was very respectful of my decision and she put me at ease knowing she would help me through. To keep labor going I began to walk the halls. Luckily they have rails to hold onto! I did that for about an hour and then I went back to my room to be monitored. That was something they wanted to do for 20 minutes every hour. 

(Olivia will undoubtedly hate me for posting this pic.)

I then tried the birthing ball, which I was not a fan of. It put WAY too much pressure on my pelvic area.

I was about 8 cenimeters at this point. I walked some more and finally it was time for the bathtub. It was warm with nice jets to help with that lower back pain that came with the contractions! At this time my bag of water was still intact. My nurse informed me that I was progressing but the baby wasn't moving down. I was in the tub for probably an hour, maybe more. I knew I was in transition because I started to shake badly and I got sick. I was starting to feel a little urge to push. She instructed me to grunt a little to relieve that. It was about 4:30 when she had me get out of the tub, but not before breaking my water in hopes that Gabe would start heading south! This part or my labor was without a doubt the hardest. I was asked to lay down partially on my side, partially on my stomach, with one leg down and the other hiked up as far as I could get it. This was how I'd been sleeping, but with contractions coming every minute and dialted to a 9, it was no picnic. I had to stay in that position for about 30 minutes. This was the point where I lost the desire to talk or look at anyone. I tried my best to breathe through each one, one at a time, and relax in between contractions. I wanted to save all the energy I had left. 
A little after 4pm I got the urge to push. This was it! I tried a few positions, none of which felt right. I ended up on my  knees on the bed, holding the head of the bed, which was elevated. This position made it very easy to get enough strenght to push like I needed to. At this time I dont remember feeling anymore contractions. I just felt the urge to push, and I could feel the baby moving down. The "on call" doctor showed up in the middle of all this. I was way to focused to worry about him. At that point I dont think I cared who was behind me! One thing I won't ever forget was the "Ring of Fire." I remember the moment he crowned and then out came his head. I was told to stop pushing, which at the time I thought was ludacris! I needed to push, I needed this to be done. The nurse and doctor checked to make sure the cord wasn't around his neck and then I was told to push again.

 At 5:43pm out came Gabriel. I flipped over so fast, my mom thought I was going to kick one of the nurses by accident! They handed him over and my world was changed forever. That's a feeling I am very sure will stay with me the rest of my life. I cried, my mom cried, and Shelton had the biggest smile I have ever seen. He got to cut the cord after it was done pumping blood and oxygen to the baby. 

I didn't have Gabe weighed or cleaned for quite some time. They sewed me up and I held him the whole time. Finally we weighed him and he was 6lbs,15oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. He was perfect and healthy. I owe my wonderful experience to my wonderful Husband, my teacher and friend Brianna, and my awesome nurse! I will never forget the best day of my life!