Detailed, so don't read if you don't want to know! :)
I woke up at 5:50 from a contraction. It wasn't horrible, but it was definitely uncomfortable. Got up and went and sat on my exercise ball to see if it was just cramping or contractions (I've had cramping this pregnancy, which I never had with the boys). Sat on the ball for 10 minutes, and there was no rhyme or reason to the contractions so I figured it was just cramps again and decided to get in the shower and start getting ready for work. Got out of the shower at 6:15, and knew they were contractions-they were 2-3 minutes apart. Woke Chris up, and got toiletries and last minute stuff thrown in the bag. Chris woke up the boys and called daycare to let them know we'd be bringing them by early. Trip to daycare took about 5 minutes longer than normal because there was a train and we had to go a different way. By the time the boys were getting out of the car (6:45) contractions were pretty intense and about 90 seconds apart-thank God we got there when we did so they missed out when I was in horrible pain.
We started the 50 mile trip to the hospital, Chris went about 90-95 (we were on interstate). We got about 20 miles down the road, and my contractions started getting 60 seconds apart, sometimes 30. They were way more intense than with either of the boys, and I had a hard time breathing through them and was pretty loud... Chris asked if he should call 911, I said I didn't know, and he decided to call. The call went to the dispatch center in my town, but they couldn't send an ambulance because it would never get to us in time, so they called the ambulance from the hospital we were headed to. About 5 minutes after he called, I told him I was feeling pressure. A minute or so after that I told him I felt like I had to push, so he pulled over at the next off ramp. We waited about 10 minutes for the ambulance to come, and during that time I started pushing. Poor Chris had to check to see if baby was coming, thankfully it hadn't started to crown yet. The ambulance got there about 7:20, it took a few minutes to get me out of the car and into the ambulance, and then we got on the road. Chris didn't want to leave the car behind, so he followed the ambulance. Baby was born 5 minutes after getting into the ambulance, so we VERY narrowly avoided a car birth! I don't think Chris was all that upset about missing the birth since the alternative was him delivering the baby, but I still feel kind of bad. He got to the hospital less than a minute after me, but he missed us getting into the elevator so he didn't know where we went. He found out from a nurse in the hallway that we had a baby girl. (When we got into the hospital, they pushed me on the gurney and when we turned the corner there was my doctor and about 10 nurses waiting for us-I was SO embarrassed. One of them told Chris it was a girl-she didn't realize we hadn't found out. Another nurse who happens to be from our town walked him to my room).
The paramedic who delivered Lydia was SO nice-I apologized to him the one time I had a 60 second break in between contractions and again after she was born. He kept telling me not to worry about it. Turns out it was his second delivery-his first was a year ago in someone's house. He came up to my room the next day and we talked for a bit while he held Lydia-got a pic of them. He lives in the town my parents and sister live, and he knows them. Small world! Anyway, I asked him how often they delivered babies in the ambulance, thinking it must be at least once a month. Turns out the last one was TWO YEARS ago. Geesh! She was known as the ambulance baby for our stay. :)
Because I was group b+ and we didn't get antibiotics, we had to stay 48 hours. They weren't too worried since the entire thing was an hour and half long, but better safe than sorry.
