Baby hawk is here at 40+6! Trust your gut on labor signs!

First the obligatory burrito: http://i.imgur.com/7jOLreU.jpg

My son was born on May 10 @ 9:54 PM coming in at 8lbs 1.5oz and 19.75 inches long after a (harrowing) short labor. The big take away is trust your gut and those "what stage of labor am I in" charts.

tl;dr The wall of text below is mostly catharsis for me. We had a 5 hour labor from first contractions to the placenta being born. I got to do the "run into the ER and yell for a chair" thing which was amusing in its own right. I have removed everything about our worthless doula. We got our natural birth, though I do wish I had told the OB to "knick" her when she asked us as I could see where the tear was forming. Trust your gut on that one, I semi-paniced, looked at my wife, and then it was too late. Take the local anesthetic. My wife did, and it hurts going in but it meant she didn't feel the tear. Speak up for it if your doctor is being stubborn, thankfully ours is amazing and got it all ready, held it up and asked. Overall, speak up for yourself. The nurses will be pushy but you can demand basically anything, but you also have to truly know yourself, both mom and dad, as to what you can handle on your own without making things worse. I watched my baby be born straight on, but did not watch them suture her. I know what makes me nauseous and what doesn't. I also helped her pee and shower ("I have a shy bladder") which annoyed the nurses. Your labor doesn't have to be this big bout of public shame.

tl;dr;tl;dr Speak in a commanding tone, you can always apologize after everything is done and the adrenaline crash sets in, and if it's unreasonable they will be far more commanding right back to you. I made it a point to find each nurse I spoke sternly to, thank them, and apologize to them. They all looked at me confused about what I was referring to, but thought it sweet to find them.

Wife had what felt like braxton hicks contractions in the morning, nothing to write home about as she had stronger ones the week prior to no result. We went on a long walk, around 3-3.5 miles broken in the middle with lunch. She wanted to stay active so she went and hung out with her mom for a bit. At 4pm she had a nail appointment, and as she left for it she had period-like cramps. Reading everything first time moms have a ~12 hour labor with most of it in the first half. By the time she got home it was fairly obvious this was "it" so she took a nice shower, blew her hair dry, etc while I made us the hearty healthy dinner (steak, pita, hummus, feta, and arugula) but by the time I was finishing up she was getting quite uncomfortable.

We have only half-heartedly started timing contractions as it's textbook early first stage labor. I'm trying to get dinner down in both of us, putting the last few things in the bag, but she is to the point of needing pressure through the entire contraction. The contractions meanwhile are getting stronger and stronger to the point she is having to really focus to get through them while I am giving strong pressure points. Her appetite is gone and not 30 minutes later what dinner she ate came back up and contractions ramped up in intensity and started double peaking. (Uh oh, the chart says transition.)

Wife goes to the bathroom and her water breaks at 7:45pm, which brings on another wave of hard contractions. While I'm still having trouble timing running around getting my shoes on in my head this is 3 minutes apart, and starting to double peak. "uhhhh shit." We decide it's hospital time, I abandon my wife who is doing classic transitional "I can't do it" to get the bag into the car, car pulled to the end of the sidewalk, etc. Abandon the lists, get her out to the living room then out to the car. She is begging for an epidural the whole time, and moving caused "pressure on her cervix."

Hit the road for a optimal 25 minute drive to the hospital where thank god there was no traffic. She is writhing in the seat in pain, has tennis balls to do the back pressure points but it only does so much. At 10-15 minutes out "I had the urge to push but I didn't with that last one." I look over at her next one which was a mistake, seeing her face wrenched in pain is not fun.

Make it to the hospital through a couple of more of those, run into the ER, point at the security guard "My wife is in labor and has the urge to push get a wheelchair." After a beat he processes what was said to him and goes to get one. There wasn't one within my reach or I would have grabbed it. Park, grab the key bags and run back where she is giving the waiting room quite the show with her AHHHHHHHHHH'ing in pain and we head to L&D. Her OB apparently had just left from another birth so we're waiting for her to get back. Wife is up and getting prepped and told to breathe through contractions. Her OB gets back and ready, then we immediately start pushing.

Maybe 20 minutes later, our son was born!