So we had just gone to bed at about 11:30 and I was lying in bed still awake. At about midnight I felt this weird feeling (kind of like Sam had kicked me really hard) followed by a contraction. I gasped. I didn’t realize it was a contraction I was worried something was wrong with Sam. But when I gasped, Ben woke up and realized what was happening. Then I rolled over and had a huge gush of water. At that point it was obvious that I was in labor. I got really panicky, like “Wait! I’m not ready for this,” which is funny since I had been feeling ready for the last month!

So I called my doctor and he said to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital at 2ish. We weren’t really in a rush since we learned in our child birth class that most first time deliveries take about 18 hours.

By the time I got checked in to my room, my contractions were really starting to hurt and they were only 3 minutes apart. I decided I wanted an epidural NOW but my nurse hadn’t come in. Within the next 10 minutes the contractions got so bad I thought I was going to die of pain. It was unbelievable! I didn’t realize how bad that part of labor would hurt!! After what seemed like hours, but was probably only 20-30 minutes, the anesthesiologist finally came in and gave me the epidural. It was really weird going in (like a spasm in my spine) but it was well worth it.

After that I fell asleep. The nurse came to check on me in a few hours and I was already dilated to 8 cm (at 10 cm you start pushing). I really wanted to push but my doctor wasn’t there yet so I had to wait. Once he got there I pushed for an hour and then out popped Sam. It was really exhausting but not too painful since I was fully medicated!

Samuel Cassidy Miller

9 pounds 7 ounces

22.5 inches