If you missed part 1, click here to catch up!

When I made it home, I immediately decided to take a bath to see if I could relax and have some relief from the contractions. I had heard that baths would help with contractions and I was REALLY hoping this would be true for me! I barely could make it into the bathroom because my contractions were just feeling like they were not giving me any break at all. I was texting with a few friends and my SIL about the contractions and not getting checked at the hospital. When my SIL said to call my doctor, I decided to give them a call because at this point it was almost 4:30 and I didn't want to have someone paged after work hours. My doctor was out of town, which I knew, but it still made me really sad that she wouldn't be delivering my sweet boy! The nurse answered right away and after listening to what was going on, she advised me to head into the hospital. She was annoyed I didn't get checked either which made me feel so much better!!
I called Rob who was already heading home from work anyways and let him know the plan for heading to the hospital. Rob picked up Henry from the sitter and all I wanted to do was snuggle him up for as long as possible. However, I was just having such frequent contractions it was really difficult for me to relax enough to love on him as much as I wanted to. Rob's mom came up to our house and took Henry down with her to their house. He was so excited to go to their house and when I let him know we were going to the hospital to get his little brother, he was even more excited! We just kept our explanation of the new baby very simple for Henry and he seemed to accept it completely.
Rob and I loaded all of our things for the hospital into the car and headed out. It was so incredibly surreal to be going to the hospital, knowing the next time we were home we would have a baby with us! As we started to pack the car, I noticed my contractions really started to pick up steam and were becoming closer and closer together. I timed a few on the way and they were now only 4 minutes apart. Rob again voiced his concern about delivering the baby on the side of the road, but I knew we were going to make it. :) In fact, I was so convinced I told Rob he could even make a trip through the drive thru to get dinner. I know my body and I know my labors are so much longer than anyone else's! ;) At this point it was about 5:30 PM. I had been having contractions for about 36 hours at this point and it was exciting to think that it really was time for us to meet our new baby.
The trip to the hospital was pretty excruciating. I had to completely stop talking and moving and just try to breathe through each contraction. The worst part was the first 30 seconds until it would reach its peak. I could handle the last 30 seconds because I knew that things were winding down. There were so many times when I thought my water was going to break because everything was being so tight and squeezed so hard, I couldn't believe it hadn't broken yet! Every bump and tiny turn on the highway was almost the end of me. When we made it to the hospital, I had so much difficulty walking into the hospital. We actually had an amazing parking spot--the first one past the handicap parking spots, but I had two huge contractions on the way into the hospital. I had to stop and lean on Rob and try to not scream or cry out loud. The hospital was under construction so what should have been a short walk once we were inside of the hospital, ended up being a much longer walk than what it should have been. (And this is the second time I had made the walk in just a few hours!!!)
Rob and I only had a small backpack and my purse because we didn't want to haul in all of our luggage if we weren't going to be staying. This was a great decision, because Rob had to carry my purse and I just had to concentrate to get myself down the hallway. The way my hospital operates is that you first go to Labor and Delivery Triage which has its own waiting room and mini-ER when you are pregnant. This is where you go for basically anything when you're pregnant and it's not at your doctor's office. I checked in and while I waited for them to get my bracelets together, I had a few really strong contractions and I couldn't stand back up to get them. The awesome receptionist decided I just could go on back to the triage area where they put on my bracelets instead of making me get back up just for the bracelets. She was such a champ and I am so thankful for that little consideration she made for me!
When we made it back to the triage area, I was the only person in the mini-ER area. I have been to the triage area a handful of times and normally it is kind of an exciting place to be because you can eavesdrop on other people. I couldn't have eavesdropped on anyone if I wanted to, so I guess it is just as well that I was the only patient there. :) When they hooked me up to the monitors, I was slightly surprised to find out that my contractions were coming every 3 minutes and were pretty strong. I felt like they were coming consistently, but seeing them on the monitor was so cool! Rob and I took guesses on how much I would be dilated. At this point I had been having contractions for about 36 hours, but I only guessed 1 cm. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but at the same time I was hoping I had made some kind of progress. Rob guessed 4 cm and he was exactly right! The nurse was laughing so much at us because he started cheering for himself. :) At this point, she said we're going to admit you and you're going to have a baby!! I immediately burst into tears--happy, happy tears. I could not believe our baby was finally getting ready to join us and my prayers of going into labor naturally were coming true!
We called our families to let them know what was going on and texted our close friends. I don't know how much my mom even understood because I was still crying because I was so excited! Henry was at Rob's parents still and my mom was on her way to get him and bring him up to our house for the night. I called my cousin Tara who lives across town and she also started heading toward our house. I am SO thankful for her because she watched Henry overnight so all of our parents could be at the hospital.
In about 30 minutes, I was all checked into the hospital and walking down to the delivery room! I could not believe how quickly things started moving once it was decided we would be staying. I was positive for Group B Strep during my first pregnancy, so my doctor always treats it in future pregnancies. This is kind of a bummer because the antibiotics to treat it stings and you have to immediately have an IV. BOO. The nurse putting in my IV tried for my left arm and immediately blew the vein. (Side note--over a week later and I still have a bruise the size of the palm of my hand!!!) She was able to put the iv in my left hand which is not ideal, but at least it wasn't on my right arm/hand. I also met my L & D nurse, Beth. With Henry I went through four shifts of nurses, so I had each of the nurses twice. HA! :)
I could write pages on how amazing Beth was as our nurse. She was so sweet, kind, and caring. When I asked her questions she was honest, even when the answers were hard to give or maybe not exactly what I wanted to hear. I really, really loved her and cried when I had to leave her!
Beth asked if I wanted an epidural and when I said YES I needed some relief, she immediately got the request in and started me on some saline solution so as soon as the anesthesiologist was ready, I would be able to have it. In the interim, some of our friends and family had arrived. I was so excited to see them and was just SO excited to be in labor. I was pretty uncomfortable, but I knew that relief was on its way. :)
When the anesthesiologist was ready, everyone had to leave the room. Rob was able to be in there before, but this time they kicked out all of my guests! The doctor was so funny and we had a good time gossiping about one of the other families on the hall that had the cops called on them (true story!!) because some of their family members were fighting in the parking lot. I realized it was two women we had seen yelling at each other on the way to check in at triage. This definitely made the room so much lighter and fun. The epidural placement was really quick and before I knew it, I was pain free and seriously in the best mood! I could feel so many endorphins pumping through my body and it was the best feeling.
My nurse came in to check me and let me know I was at a 6!! I started crying again because I just could not believe that in less than two hours I had progressed 2 cm. I know this is totally normal for most people, but I was so incredibly slow progressing with Henry that it was shocking every time she checked me and I had progressed. To be completely honest, I almost asked her to not check me for awhile because I didn't want to be discouraged like I was with Henry. Luckily, I did not ask her that and I was progressing!
About an hour later, a midwife came in to break my water and check me again. This was about 9 PM and I was at 7 cm. The midwife had difficulty breaking my water because William was pressing up against my cervix so much. She was not sure, but thought he had passed his first meconium. This immediately raised a lot of concerns with the nurses and they placed a telephone call to the doctor on call at my practice to let her know. I was also very concerned because I knew my risk of having a c-section was going up quite a bit and that there was a chance William might spend some time in the NICU. I said the first of many prayers during my labor then and was so thankful the nurses (especially Beth!) were incredibly attentive and quick to take action.
After the midwife broke my water, another nurse came in to set up the delivery equipment. I was so emotional at this point and just couldn't believe our little man was getting ready to join us! With Henry, I was stuck at 6 cm for about 9 hours so this quick progression was totally new to me and so so exciting! We had several friends come in to visit and both sets of parents. I honestly had such a good time visiting with them that I wanted time to slow down. It was such a sweet time. :)
Around 10 PM, my nurse came back in to check me and said that I was at 10 cm! I was in total shock (per usual!) and she sat me up straight to have William labor down some while she called the doctor and had another nurse check me to make sure. When it was confirmed that I was 10 cm, she had me do some practice pushes. I wasn't really feeling the urge to push which made it really difficult to push at all. She let me push for about an hour, but I didn't really make any progress. We tried a lot of positions, but none of them seemed to help.
At about 11:30, William's heart rate started to drop drastically. Immediately I knew he was in distress and the meconium situation was probably only making things worse. After trying to move me from side to side without any better heart rate resolution, the nurses (and my doctor) made the decision to give me some medicine to stop my contractions. They were hoping this decision would give him some time to rest and recover and then as the medicine wore off, we would start back pushing.
I rested for about an hour and a half while different nurses came in to check and watch the monitor. I could see the worry and the tension on everyone's faces when they came into the room and knew what they were all thinking. I was given oxygen in the hopes that would also help William's heart rate. I started praying like crazy and while I was still so thankful for going into labor on my own, I did not want my labor story to end in a c-section.
Around 1 AM, the doctor on call came into the room to introduce herself to me and I will never forget her words..."Hi, I'm Dr. Teague. I'm here to do your c-section."