those crazy five hours.

i have gone back and forth about whether to share my birth story here on the blog. it is so personal and precious and intimate. i kind of want to keep it and treasure it with adam and my family. so i've decided not to share all of the details...i'm honestly still processing a lot of them. but here is the gist...

we were watching the duke v arizona game on friday night november 29th. around halftime i started feeling contractions (8:15). by the time the game ended i announced to my family "i think i might be in labor. adam and i should probably head home. we will keep you posted about what time tomorrow you should come to the hospital for the birth."

we left and planned to go home, try to rest, labor at home through the night, and head to the hospital in the morning.

ha.

by the time we got home i was in serious active labor. my doula was headed over. it wasn't long before my contractions were about a minute apart and completely excruciating. i realized that if i didn't go the hospital right then, i would likely give birth in our bed. not ideal. we called the doula and told her to meet us at the hospital. i basically went through transition in the car and was ready to push by the time i reached the triage room. we were at the hospital less than an hour when she was born at 1:14am...five hours after my first contraction.  i think i pushed for 15 minutes.

soooo...that's the short version. although, as you can see, there isn't really a long version.

i was grateful that i was able to have the natural birth that i wanted and had prepared for for so long.

i was less grateful that my body did in five hours what it should have done in more like 18 hours. it was crazy intense and i just remember thinking i would likely not live through it to meet my daughter. but i did. and i got to meet sweet florence early that morning. and that's the part i remember best. :)