The Birth Hour

During her first pregnancy she constantly worried that she would get to the hospital too late for drugs. Her entire birth plan was just the word "DRUGS!" written on a piece of paper. But she also didn't want to arrive to the hospital so early that they sent her home because she was one centimeter dilated and already screaming for an epidural.

When her labor started everyone, including Dawn, just assumed she was a wimp when it came to the pain level. So she labored at home for quite some time. Then her water broke and her contractions were coming on top of each other. But they weren't lasting a minute! Dawn was waiting for 511, and because her contractions weren't lasting a minute she thought she was fine. She was not fine.

They zoomed to the hospital and were given the devastating news: Dawn was too far along to get drugs. She was 9.5 centimeters when she got to the hospital and the baby was 100% born 45 minutes after she arrived. There were no drugs, but there was plenty of cussing.

Dawn assumed her second delivery would be similar to her first, and maybe even faster. But instead of being one week early her second baby was one week late. And instead of bursting out in a frenzy, baby #2 took his sweet time. 24 hours after she checked into the hospital her second child arrived. The good news: there was plenty of time for drugs the second time around. And not nearly as many cuss words.