labor of love

My last day of work was Friday, April 27. I originally planned to work up until the due date but I was getting very tired and was hoping to coax Baby Amato out early. My wishes were granted. After my nightly shower on May 1, I started having contractions. They continued steady through the night. Things weren't progressing as I had hoped so we took a walk on the beach. The photo to the left is the last one of Baby Amato in the womb on the morning of May 2.

My contractions continued steady all day on May 2. By the evening, they were getting very strong and it was time to call in help. We went to our doula's birth center to wait out our hospital arrival as much as possible. I wanted to have a natural birth with as little interventions as possible so the best advice is to stay out of the hospital until close to delivery time. After a very long evening of very strong contractions, my water still hadn't broken and the contractions were not getting any closer than 3-5 minutes apart. By 6:00 a.m. and 32 hours of labor, I was getting very frustrated. The doula recommended we go home and rest, then see what is happening later in the day. I reluctantly agreed. We napped for about an hour then woke up to see that my water had broken and we were back on track. I opted to go right to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 9:00 a.m. and they checked to see that I was already halfway dilated and well on my way to delivery. When they checked me again at 12:30, I hadn't progressed as they hoped so they did an ultrasound. To our surprise, Baby Amato was breech (butt first) and a Cesarean delivery was required. I was very disappointed that I wasn't going to have my natural delivery but also somewhat relieved that I wouldn't have to deal with labor any longer. From here, it is all kind of a blur... I get a spinal epidural, Joe gets into his fancy scrubs, and then Baby Amato arrives ...