Lacey's Birthday

So things of course started a couple of days before at work. I started having irregular contractions at work that continued through my birthday (despite my attempts to get things going by taking oscar for a walk). around midnight (12:08 per Clint) I woke up with my first more intense contraction. I decided to get up against better judgement since it was kind of exciting (and just when I was getting comfortable i would have another one). I walked around the house and tried to watch TV for a couple hours, and by 3AM the contractions were about 10-20 minutes apart. I called work and told them that I thought I might be coming in some time that day and to find out who was working, but was told that things might still slow down or go away completely. I guess that was why I was still somewhat in denial at 4AM when things picked up and I told Clint that he should maybe stay home from work that day. I think around 5-6 AM I called my friend Carrie and told her what was going on (still in denial), and she offered to come over. By 8:45AM I was only 3-4cm and hanging out in and out of the shower (had to come out to let the water warm up again), and around 11:30 or so I had decided that I'd had enough of the stupid water cooling off so I wanted to get to the hospital (they had a whirlpool and it was all I could think about). I didn't care any more about my goal of laboring at home until I was 8cm. Alas, we got to the hospital and that's just what I was to my delight (I was immediately happy and I think my contractions slowed down for a while). After that lasted for a little while (I have no concept of time), things started picking up again and getting a little more intense, and I was getting pretty tired from being up all night and all....I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough energy to get Lacey out. I let Loree (my midwife) break my water at 9cm to make things move a little faster (they didn't - don't let them fool you with that). and low and behold, 4 1/2 hours after we arrived (and multiple trips to the whirlpool, shower, and an hour and a half of trying to push her out, our little chub-o popped out (Clint was amazed that she was not the size of a guinea pig...that's what he was imagining). I never actually remember feeling like I had to push, but I was sick of waiting around and wanted to try and make it happen faster...She had a little meconium while she was still inside, but all that was affected was the color of her fingernails (mmm, green). I was able to hold her right away and our snuggling began (and still continues on a regular basis - we're a fan of naps). I was a little selfish at first and didn't let anyone else have her till the next day - well, Clint got to hold her after everyone left, but he is the dad afterall. I have to say, it was kinda fun that I got to have her where I work since I already knew everyone and was familiar with everything that was going on, and even got to do some things that I otherwise probably wouldn't have (like give her her first bath).