My due date with Finley was actually August 7th and we found out a few months before that Nate would have his annual training (AT) for guard up at Fort McCoy, about 2 hours away. He was set to be gone the week before my due date through the 14th of August. Did I mention that we started our long put off kitchen remodel and re-roofing about 2 weeks prior to that? So basically our plate was about as full as it could be at this time. I guess you could call it nesting to the 10th degree! Well the kitchen and roof came together beautifully a few days before my due date which was a huge relief. My mom came down and stayed with me for a few days to help re-assemble our chaotic kitchen and house and my sister Chris, who lives nearby, was on call the rest of the time for any laboring I might have. August 7th came and went and I must say I had the best pregnancy a girl could ask for. I felt great despite my big baby belly, the weather was wonderful and I seemed to have tons of energy. I even steamed cleaned the carpet that week. I had a Doctors appointment set for the 13th since no baby had come yet. My doctor was letting me go a week overdue and then assessing the situation with stress tests etc. I decided to convince Nate to leave Fort McCoy a day early to come with me to my appointment just in case. The were ordering another Ultrasound for later in the week so I thought we should just play it safe. I woke up on the 13th with mild contractions and at my appointment my doctor set me up with an induction date of August 19th but decided to strip my membranes too see if that would do anything at this point. Well I am pretty sure it did... I started having stronger contractions about a half hour later. We packed up for the hospital a few hours later at about 2:30pm only to be sent home. Though I was dilated to 3cm (I had been for awhile) it wasn't good enough and they weren't convinced my contractions were "real" yet. You could say I was a bit shocked. I went home, watched the Olympics in pain for a few more hours, having regular contractions the whole time and we decided at 8:00pm that this had to be it and hauled back to the hospital. This time I had dilated to about 3.5 cm but they still weren't convinced this was real labor and ordered me to take Ambien (because I ensured them I would not be able to sleep through these contractions) and sent me home again! You could say both Nate and I were tired and confused. It was 11:30pm, I had been contracting all day and getting to the point of being angry. I followed the orders, took the Ambien and tried to get some rest as I was just desperate for something. The nurses in OB triage said it would take my contractions away and if it didn't then I WAS in real labor. Well, the Ambien did nothing to take any pain, help me sleep or anything. I did make me vomit though. I basically roamed around the house trying to find a position that was comfortable. By 2:30am I had had enough. I woke Nate up and told him we were going back and getting admitted no matter what! I was even tempted just to go to the other big hospital here in Madison if I had to. Well no need for that. We got to the hospital by 3:00am. The nurses checked me by 4:00am realized I had dilated to about 6.5cm at home and immediately asked if I wanted an epidural because it was almost too late to get one. I was admitted, got into my suite, had my epidural all by 6:30am. Then they let me rest before starting any pitocin due to my horrible night. The nurse started pitocin at 8:00am and told me she anticipated me to be at 10cm and start pushing by noon. Well, I sure surprised them because within an 40 minutes I was dilated to 10cm and told them I needed to push... now!! Nate was off getting coffee for nurse and himself and walked back in the room shocked that I was pushing already! About 40 minutes later, Finley entered the world weighing 8lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long. After a VERY rough 24 hours I think I was the happiest person on earth. Exhausted but happy! It was all worth it for the end result.
Last picture together before becoming parents
Morning of "labor day"
Finley on the scale
The little thinker
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