6pm - As scheduled, James and I arrived at Fair Oaks Hospital for the first part of the scheduled induction process. This first visit was to to have 'p-gel' administered in order to open my cervix which had been 50% effaced and 0cm dilated for over 2 weeks. When we arrived we were checked in, I was put in a gown and the nurse started talking about an overnight stay which we weren't anticipating at all and hadn't brought any of our things. We were told the dr. was delayed but would be in around 7pm so we made ourselves comfortable and watched some TV.
8pm - A little later than anticipated, Dr. Wertheim, a very business only dr but a good one, arrived. Fortunately we didn't have to stay overnight (they had confused us with another induction where they were going to use cervidil...glad I said something!) but we did have to stay an hour so I could be monitored before they sent us home.
9:30pm - We were finally outta there. We were starving so we headed over to dunkin donuts to pick up a few dozen for the nurses the next morning and McDonalds for us (it was the only thing still open at 10pm but it was gooood). When we got home we settled in and tried as best we could to sleep but it was pretty unsuccessful for me...it's like trying to sleep on Christmas Eve while having menstrual cramps. I got about 3 hours...so much for our last good night of sleep!
Monday, September 21st - 41 weeks, 2 days - 9 days overdue
6am - We arrived at the hospital (with all of our stuff this time) on time, as the doctor stressed (the nurses loved the donuts). The dr was nowhere to be seen though. We were ushered into our room (room #1...it was huge!) and I got into my gown and they put the monitors on my belly. Since the doctor hadn't arrived, James and I tried to nap while we waited.
8am - the doctor finally arrived and checked my cervix. Only at 2.5 cm but apparently I was contracting every 2-3 min (they were so mild that I had no idea). So, with that he began manually working it open with his hand...which was very, very unpleasant. Without notice he broke my water (I knew it was going to happen eventually, I just hadn't known it was happening THEN) and asked the nurse to begin pitosin to get things moving. All in all his visit was under 30 min so we went from 0-60MPH in no time. I was told that I could have an epidural at anytime after that, no need to wait, but I wanted to see how things progressed before jumping into the epidural. I had told james that I was 80% sure I'd have the epidural but I wanted to see how bad contractions really were before relying on the meds.
10am - called in the epidural. Who was I kidding...contractions suck...a lot. Having my water broken really changed things. While I'm glad I got to experience contractions and the breathing (which works if you need it), I LOVE the epidural. by 11:00am I was completely numb from the waist down and it was awesome...not an ounce of pain from that point on.10am - 8pm - stuck at 2.5 cm. We spent the whole day watching tv, reading magazines, chatting with nurses, etc. James sculpted 'Gwendi' a little ghandi looking guy that the nurses were very impressed with. I took 10-15 min naps just about every hour because while I didn't feel any contractions, they were definitely coming fast and strong (at least that's what the monitors indicated) so my body was working. We were told that it can take quite awhile to get to 5cm but after that it's fairly common to go about 1cm/hour. So after 14 hours of labor we were starting to think that Gwen may be holding out till the next day.
8pm - we were checked again and hooray! We were at 4cm. At least it was progress. At this point my epidural bag ran out so we had to bring in a new one. So glad I got a drip instead of just a shot as I would have been out of juice at the wrong time!
9:30pm - the nurses came in to check me again because the contractions were becoming stronger and more rhythmic. I was at 8cm! We were told she would be coming in the next 30min to an hour. After spending 15 hours hanging out in the hospital it was a strange feeling to know that she was really on her way...we were also right in the middle of the House season premier so we were going to miss the end ;)
10:15pm - our dr. and the nurses started filing into the room. Dr Gopal was on duty and she was amazing...very laid back and conversational. We were chatting about other deliveries she had performed that day, the nurses kids, etc. and in mid sentence I would comment that I could feel that there was some movement. Very casually the nurses got every one into position and just like we were chatting, Dr. Gopal asked me to start pushing...no pain, no stress...I even made a comment after the first few pushes that I could definitely do this again. Gwen's head was showing after the first set of pushes and she was out in just five. We were all dumbfounded with all the dark hair. Surprisingly it was a pretty pleasant experience (well, except for the moment that the dr. brought out the mirror...whoa...).
10:55pm - Gwen was delivered with a FULL head of black hair and very dark eyes...where did that come from?!?! She gave out a few good cries but was calm as a cucumber when they placed her on my chest. While we all joked that she looked a little asian she sure was cute. She weighed in at 6lbs 14oz and was 21inches long...very long and skinny.
Summary - Gwen took her time getting ready to enter this world but when the time came, she made quick work of it! If all labor and delivery experiences were like mine there would be a LOT more kids in this world! The nurses and Dr. Gopal were absolutely wonderful and I have very fond memories of the whole experience. 
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