Does it ever really sink in?

My amniotic fluid was still very low when I went to the doctor last week, so we decided it would be best to deliver the baby early since I was already 38 weeks and considered "full term". I went into the hospital Tuesday afternoon and they gave me Cervadil that night to help ripen the cervix before inducing labor. That was actually probably the worst part of the whole labor process. I was extremely uncomfortable all night because they had me hooked up to the monitors the whole night. Then I started having this really bad back pain in the middle of the night that I thought was just really bad gas, but the nurses told me it was actually contractions. Apparently Cervadil sometimes starts labor even though it is not supposed to. I made it through the night (without a lot of sleep) and they gave me pitocin around 8am on Wednesday morning. I was having contractions similar to the ones I had the night before, enough to make me uncomfortable, but not really too terribly painful. Then, around 10:30am my doctor came in to check on me and I was 3cm dialated, so she broke my water. That was when the real pain started. I was having back labor--no pain whatsoever in my abdomen but my back felt like it was going to explode. I decided I had no desire to suffer through that for who knew how many hours, so I got an epidural, and within minutes I was pain free. Tom and I relaxed, listened to music and talked. By 1pm when my doctor came to check on me, I was 5cm, and by 2pm, I was 10cm and it was time to push. Little Hadley was born at 2:07.

Being a mother is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced, but it is also still so incredibly surreal. I just love her more and more every day--despite the lack of sleep I am getting. She was the perfect baby in the hospital, but she screamed from 6:30pm to 4:30am the first two nights we were home. Last night we actually got to sleep at about 1:30, so it wasn't quite as bad. I think part of the problem the first two nights was that she was starting to get a big appetite, but my milk had not come in yet. Luckily, it came in yesterday so things are going a little bit better. Well, I was number 3, so there are only two more of us to go! Best of luck to you both!