My Pregnancy with Captain

I was going to name this "Captain's Pregnancy" but then realized that would be misleading and a little silly at the same time.
I am in kinda a write-y mood today and I hope that you aren't getting bored with this all. Kids are napping and not being neglected (just the housework).
Now, on with it... My pregnancy with Captain was slightly miserable. Although I never actually threw up (due to morning sickness), I was in a constant state of nausea cured only by eating for the first three and a half months of my pregnancy. After that, things started going well. I enjoyed pregnancy---really I did. We had a few little scares and I was sick with colds (six times) and the flu (three times) and a little more than anxious to meet my wonderful little bundle come April 1st (with the due date only 3 weeks away). My doctor, being the wonderful man that he is, stripped my membranes on April 13th, 2006 and suggested I go for a long walk and keep active (haha in the 9th month). I was adamant that we needed to get this child here, so that is what I did. That Friday was Good Friday. That Saturday, an Easter Egg hunt less than a block away from our house. Being that I was having a baby soon and I knew a few mothers that would be there, I went down to join in the fun. After that, I visited my dad, Fundi's parents, my sister at work, came home made a dessert for dinner that night and fried turkey for Easter pot-luck at my in-laws the next day, went to dinner at my in-law's that night (grilled out... ate not-dogs), then came home for a little bonding with Fundi before turning in.
That night, at 1am, I woke up with contractions. I took a shower, woke up Fundi, packed the rest of my things, called the Hospital and then watched two hours of TV. At 5am we left for the hospital (a one hour drive). We arrived at 6am and got checked in and monitored. We were having an Easter Baby! I was sooo excited. April 16th would be our baby's birthday.
Or not!
I walked and walked and walked the hospital floor. I sat in the bath, I sat on the ball, I sat in the rocking chair. I walked and walked and walked some more. Finally, at 6ish that night, my brother-in-law showed up with food from Easter dinner. I hadn't eaten since the not-dogs the night before and wouldn't be allowed to eat Easter dinner either. I ate jello and drank juice and soda. At that point, all hopes for wanting an unmedicated birth went to the way-side. I really wasn't in all that much pain, but I needed rest and couldn't rest through my contractions. The doctor suggested morphine. Either my contractions would fizzle and we would go home or my contractions would continue and I would be able to get some much needed rest. The morphine allowed me to relax and allowed me to dilate. I went from a 3 to a 6 in only an hour. Then, I think I walked some more. That evening I asked for more pain meds. I was given phentenol. It worked for about 15 minutes, but then I needed something more. They gave me another shot of phentenol. Again, same results. It allowed me to relax between contractions but didn't allow the pain to go away between contractions. In agony, I asked for the Epidural.
E-P-I-D-U-R-A-L spells relief as my doctor later said, and I was fine.
The epidural worked really well and I was able to rest and relax. Every half hour, they turned me from side to side. I was so numb that I needed help turning. I was numb to my arm pits. I could finally laugh again. Finally, at 9:00am on Monday, April 17th, 2006 my doctor came in to check me again. I was ready to push he said, but that the epidural was working so well maybe wasn't the best thing for quick progress. He told me to prepare to push for a while. He asked the nurse to get me ready to push and that he was going to go check on another woman in labor. When I was ready to push the baby out, the nurse should call and then he would come and "catch". We did just as he said. The next contraction came and the nurse said, "OK, now, push". And I pushed and then she said "STOP!" Half-way through my contraction, she said that the baby was too far down and that on the next push I would be having the baby. "Do NOT push anymore." So, I waited. She got the doctor. The doctor came in. On the next contraction, the doctor said "OK, now, push." And I pushed and out came the head. No pain. And the doctor unwrapped the cord from around his head and he said "OK, now, push." And I pushed and out came the little boy body. I had a little boy and the pain was not there and the pain that had been there was the farthest thing from my mind. I cried that we had a little baby. I was sooo happy. Recovery was beautiful as well. We were happy and healthy and we couldn't have asked for anything more. (Besides something less than a 33 hour labor?)