I found out I was pregnant on December 8th, 1997. Well, I already knew I was pregnant but I got the official test done that day. I immediately drove to Jack's (Casey's Daddy) work and told him. Jack's mother was there so we just kept quiet about it so we could let it sink in. I had mixed emotions.. part of me was very excited and part of me was scared. I already had two kids, Jack had 3 kids so I wasn't sure how we could do this! But all of those feelings went away REAL fast!

We decided to not tell anyone at first to make sure nothing would go wrong. I've had a history of complicated pregnancies so we felt it best to not stir things up with our families till we knew we were out of the woods.. well, I only lasted a few hours! I drove from Jack's work to Rainy's house and told her immediately. Then I called my mom that night and told her. A few weeks later, just before Christmas, we told Jack's kids. Everyone was excited.

I had my first prenatal appointment a couple weeks later. Everything looked good but it was decided that I would be monitored closely anyway. With my last pregnancy, my cervix decided to open too soon and I had some preterm labor threats. I ended up having a circlage put in my cervix (they sewed my cervix shut) and was put on bed rest for 4-5 months of my pregnancy. This time they were worried my cervix would be weakened from my previous pregnancy's problems. So every week for several months I drove across the state line and clear across town (about a 30-40 minute drive) to have an ultrasound. Every ultrasound showed a perfect cervix though. And it was real neat to watch the baby's growth from week to week. I felt close to him already! And there was no hiding the fact that he was a boy! He would always "bare all" at each ultrasound.

Since my cervix was behaving, they stopped doing the weekly ultrasounds when I was 6 months along. The doctor monitoring me used me for a case study to prove that a woman's cervix can "fix" itself from one pregnancy to the next, that just because a cervix can be incompetent in one pregnancy, it doesn't mean it will be incompetent in the next.

Right after they quit doing the weekly ultrasounds I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. Now THAT wasn't fun at all! I got to prick my finger 4 times a day to check my blood sugar and follow a diet. I lost weight on this diet as well.. in fact, my total weight gain for the whole pregnancy was only 4 pounds! So now I weigh less then before I got pregnant. If only I was so lucky with my other pregnancies! (Please Note - Losing weight when you're pregnant isn't always a good thing, it was OK for me though because I was overweight to begin with and they knew from all the many many ultrasounds that the baby was growing fine.. )

By the time I was 37 weeks, I was ready to have this baby! I had only carried my other two to 37, 38 weeks so I thought this baby would be born then too. WRONG. I carried the little guy to term. 37 weeks passed, 38 weeks slowly dragged by, then at 39 weeks I was just DONE! I mean, it was hot, I was miserably uncomfortable, I knew this was going to be a big baby and I just wanted him to be born!

On Wednesday, July 15th, one week before my due date I had a prenatal appointment. My Midwife determined I was 3 almost 4 cm dialated. She asked if I wanted my membranes stripped and I said YES!! She felt I wouldn't make it through the weekend, but if I did she would induce me on the following Monday, July 20th, the day before my official due date. I wasn't going to argue!

The rest of the week I went about my normal activities. We took all our kids (5 counting my 3 stepchildren) to an aquatic park where I was knocked around plenty by the wave pool (hoping to induce labor) but nothing happened.. nothing! I went the rest of the weekend with no labor signs.. a few contractions here and there, but nothing substantial.

I got there Monday morning like planned and they sent me home because they were too full.. I cried all the way to our friends house where we ended up staying all day and waiting for the birthing center to call us saying they had a bed for me. Well, I ended up bugging them 4 times throughout the day and they finally told me to come back Tuesday Morning 7/21 which was my due date anyway so I guess it was meant to be!

We got there Tuesday, they admitted me and started an IV right away. They said IV's were necessary for being induced. No biggy.. except the first vein they put it in collapsed so I they had to move it..

At 10:30 AM I was 4 almost 5 cm dialated and I think I was fully efaced. (can't remember) But I wasn't in labor at all.. My midwife wanted to use this tablet that she would stick inside me and that was supposed to soften the cervix and start contractions. She wanted to avoid using pitocin. But they can only use this stuff up to a certain point and they determine if they can use it or not based on a point system. The points were given for how dialated/efaced you were etc. Anything over a 7 and I couldn't have the tablet and would have to go with the pitocin. Well, I was a 6 so I got the tablet.

For the first hour I had to stay in bed to be monitored, then I could walk around for the next two hours. They give the tablet 3 hours total to work. So after the first hour, I got up and walked around.. went down to the cafeteria with Jack and friends so they could eat.. looked at both gift shops, found my mother looking for me and walked some more. Nothing.

At 1:30, I came back to be monitored again and at this point I was a little upset. Everyone's there, ready to go, and I'm not laboring! So I pouted for about 5 minutes while everyone chatted... then I got a contraction. It was a LOT stronger than any of the ones I'd been having all week so I knew it was a "real" one. I was afraid to say anything at first though for fear I'd "jinx" it! :-) Well, another one came 3 mins later, then another one, each one getting stronger.. by then everyone noticed them on the monitor too and I started to breathe through them.

My midwife came in at 1:45 and checked me, I was at 6 CM and I know by then I was fully efaced. She said "you don't need pitocin, I'm just going to break your water". Yay!! I told everyone "here we go!" and I was nervous because with both my other kids, once the water was broke, I went into full labor..

After the bag of waters was broken, I had a few more contractions that were much stronger.. I asked to take a jacuzzi bath (they had them in every room) so Jack and I went off to the bathroom. Once in there labor started full force! I did my best to breathe through them and listen to Jack's gentle coaxing and wonderful words. He was so sweet.. he kept saying things like "pretty soon you'll be holding your sweet little baby, he'll probably have your pretty brown eyes" etc.. just wonderful sweet caring words.. and they helped me a LOT!

But I "whimped out" after about 20 minutes.. they were just coming too fast and too strong and there was only about 10 seconds between each one. I felt like I was having just one big huge contraction that wouldn't go away. I got out of the tub and went back to the room where I sat on the chair and proceeded to cry and cry and beg for an epidural. I kept telling my mom that it hurt too much and I wanted to go home!! She and Jack just kept rubbing my back and talking me through it.

At 2:50 or so my midwife came to check me. So I got on the bed and begged her for an epidural. (By then I was a blubbering idiot, couldn't breathe through them anymore and kept apologizing to everyone saying I was a whimp! Everyone kept telling me I wasn't a whimp but I felt like one anyway because I couldn't stop crying )

Anyway, Midwife said I was at 8 cm and that I only had about an hour to go....

So I figured I could make it an hour and asked for pain meds instead. She said she'd give me stadol (sp?) and I asked her if it would affect the baby. She said only if I had the baby in the next 20 minutes.. after that it'd wear off and he'd be fine when he was born. ok.. cool.. I can deal with that.

They gave me the stadol about 3:03 PM. Right as they were giving it to me, I felt the urge to push! My body kinda took over too and was basically pushing on it's own. I had to fight to NOT push! She checked me again and I was at 9 1/2 cm dilated. She told me to only push if it was overwhelming.. well, it was and as hard as I fought to NOT push, my body just kept doing it anyway. She kept saying "hold on a few minutes.. you got about 15 minutes to go" and right after she said that I said "I can't wait anymore" and pushed with all my might. Head was out with one push. She told me to wait while she suctioned his mouth/nose and I waited maybe 10 seconds and pushed again real hard and out he came at 3:08 PM. 18 minutes after she had just told me I had an hour to go and 5 minutes after I got the stadol..

The stadol didn't have time to affect the baby at all.. but boy was I higher than a kite.. AFTER he was born!! That was horrible and I wish I never took it! It didn't do any good at all DURING the labor, obviously since I got it only 5 minutes before delivery but I was "spaced out" and just barely coherent for about a half hour after he was born. It was awful. I regret taking it!

Over all though, things went SOOO well! I did it without the epidural, labor was only about 1.5 hours beginning to end.. everything was so much different from my other two kids who were both 11+ hour labors and I had epidurals with both. This time it was so fast and so very intense.. It was almost unbelieveable and I was in shock after he was born for about 20 minutes, just sitting there going "wow, I just had the baby". I wasn't expecting him to come that quickly! (Not that I'm complaining!)

Casey Robert Thompson, born July 21, 1998 weighed 8 lbs 10 oz at birth. He was 20 3/4 inches long. He's very healthy and was nursing about an hour after birth.

Afterwards, everyone was teasing me because when I was in the jacuzzi, they knew I was in full labor because they kept hearing me saying "sh*t" over and over. *blush* My language did get a bit "colorful" a few times with contractions but oh well! I did it!