Aghoo's birth story

My daughter- our baby- our little princess arrived with much fanfare ( !) on Feb 3rd 2010.

My mom landed here on Jan 31st and the little princess (  referred to as Aghoo) gave her patti just enough time to recover from jetlag before deciding to come into the world.

Birth story:-
Starting from Feb 2d morning,I had been feeling crampy and uneasy . My mom was pretty sure it was the start of labor and I was still in denial ( since my due date was 9 days away!).Around 10.30 pm, I started to feel sharp pains which were coming about 10 min apart.After 4 such pains ( yeah- I still did not realize these were contractions!), I told HD that I was having "shooting pains" every 10 min.He went and woke my mom up.Mom was staying calm and trying to make us relax. I was pretty relaxed ( I think). HD was cleaning the house( Yeah!!) because his daughter was going to come home ( I think it was his way of relieving his stress).
So anyway, around 11.30 I decided that we needed to rest, if today was indeed the day.HD and I were trying to get some rest- but that was definitely impossible, as we were still timing my contractions ( using this website).

Around 2.30 am, the contractions were about 5 min apart- HD then called the hospital and we were asked to come in.
We had everything ready - hospital bag/ camera etc. We arrived at the hospital at around 3.30 am.I was still pretty comfortable walking- the emergency technician wanted me to be in a wheel chair and I was telling him that I was comfortable walking. Rules they said! I had visions of a perfect labor - walking/active etc.
They took me to the labor room and put me on monitors( fetal heart rate monitor and blood pressure monitor).I was pretty chatty and upbeat through it all.The nurses kept coming and going- but little Aghoo had a mind of her own and was not moving as much as they liked her to.So, shattering all my plans of an active labor, they told me that I would have ot be strapped to the monitors- which meant staying in the bed.

Every time a contraction came - I would scrunch up my relaxi-ball and wish to God that this baby started to move. I made excuses of wanting to use the rest room multiple times- just so that I get out of that bed and walk :).My mom was , ofcourse really nervous about letting me use the rest room- since she is a doctor and they NEVER let laboring mothers walk or use the toilet :).

It was almost 7 am and the contractions were STILL only 5 min apart and I hadn't dilated beyond 3cm. The nurses then decided to give me a dose of Pitocen(sp?)  to induce my labor.Well, until this point I was pretty upbeat and thought- if this is labor.. this isn't so bad . Once the pitocen kicked in- MY GOODNESS- that's when the real painful contractions started to come- stronger and closer together.My mom, who is an Anesthesiologist, was very intent on avoiding any pain medication if possible. In her experience, many patients who took the Epidural ended up in C-Secs.I , on the other hand, wanted to see how it goes and then decide. I wanted to avoid labor analgesics if possible, because I had read that they make the baby droiwsy for the first few hours after birth.
Anyway by 8 am, I was ready for ANYTHING- but the hospital's Anesthesiologist was stuck  somewhere and they couldn't get him in immediately( I could have killed them when they told me this !!).So I tried to suck it up and bear the pain-but I did cave and they  gave me a minor dose of analgesic.At 9 am, I was in extreme pain and the OB doc finally came in ( until this point it was just the nurses !!).I asked her for an epidural again and she said- "you know what- you are close to the end now (!)..almost 8 cm dilated". We were all surprised at how quickly her Aghooness had decided to come out :).To top the pain of the induced labor, I also had a sore throat and cough which made it impossible to even cry out in pain!- and the nurses and doc thought I was a brave lady for bearing the pain without even shouting :P.
My mom had to force HD to watch his daughter being born- because he couldnt stand the blood and gore LOL!I must have pushed for about 15-20 min and the doc ( and my mom) were encouraging me and telling me that they could see little Aghoo's head :)...and just like that there she was!! We couldn't believe our eyes..I was looking at her and then at HD and mom -we were all just speechless for a minute or so.I  was just elated and speechless and tired delirious- all at the same time.

The doctor and the nurses congratulated on the great job done ( without epidural).. and how brave I was and all of that.I was in a daze for sometime and tried to follow my baby girl with my eyes to see what they are doing with her.

There - thats the birth story of miss Aghoo :)