2/2/2012.

Our third baby was coming and on Feb 1st, 2012 I was walking around Michael's Craft Store when I started to get some strong contractions. I stopped while looking in the bead section and recognized the fact that these contractions were a little longer and stronger than normal. Suddenly, I was scared and thought, what if I go into labor sitting here in Michael's, looking at beads!! ha! I quickly checked out and drove home with mixed feelings about being excited and scared at the same time.
That night, I paced my apartment like a mad woman for 4 hours as the contractions continued to get longer and stronger. I knew that no matter what, I was going to have this baby either tonight or tomorrow. Around midnight, we decided to play it safe and go to the hospital, even though my contractions weren't as intense as my last two pregnancies/labors had been.
After arriving at the hospital, the OB resident looked skeptical and was going to send us home, even though I was dilated to a 4. After an hour more of walking around, she decided to keep us since I was now a 5.
My whole perception of this delivery was wrong. Before, I had been really worried that I would go into labor and this little guy would come pretty quickly, since it was my 3rd baby and since my other two had been pretty quick deliveries (one I pushed for about 50 min and the other 15 min). Boy, was I wrong. ha! After over 20 hours of labor and 2 real epidurals (one doctor tried over 10 times, giving me a spinal tap that later gave me the worst headache of my life), I finally pushed 3 times and delivered a 7 lb. 11 oz, 19 1/2 inch long baby boy at 12:16pm, on 2/2/2012. I was completely exhausted from being in labor for so long, and for not eating forever, plus the first epidural had come out and stopped working right before the peak of my final, most painful contractions, which didn't help. But, after he came out, it was all worth it. :)
We have had a hard time picking a name for this little guy and finally decided in the hospital, that Cole Jackson McDaniel was the one. Welcome to the world Cole.