Thanks everyone!
Well with Eric's help here is my birth story...
On Saturday 22 January, Eric decided to try the car seat in the car, as it was getting closer to my due date and he wanted to make sure that it fit. He discovered that we needed an extension strap for it, but it was too late in the day to go out and get one, so we had to delay getting the strap until a later time.
Sunday we considered going for a drive up Mount Tamborine & small walk to look at native cycads, but I didn't feel like it, and wanted get the strap for the seat instead. We went to do some grocery shopping, and stopped at the baby store to get the strap. We also hung out at a local plant nursery for about an hour, evaluating plants for raising stick insects (long story, Eric has some Acrophyla titan eggs from a rather large visitor to our yard).
Sunday night the baby was super active, I think the most active I've felt her. Shortly after midnight I decided to go to bed because I was getting pretty tired. I was in bed for maybe 10 minutes, when I suddenly felt a pop. I felt like a bottle of wine being uncorked, it was very strange and I was a little shocked that it was happening so soon. Then followed a gush of fluid (thankfully we had a mattress protector on the bed, yeah I know more than you want to know) and I called Eric to come and help me (Eric's note: to quote Janet, “Looks like we're having a baby”). He grabbed some towels to soak it up, and then put them around me so that I could trot off to the bathroom without soaking the rug (Eric's note: trot? Can a pregnant woman who's waters have just broken trot? More like an awkward shuffle).
Eric asked for permission to hop into the shower, thinking that it could be a loooong time before he was going to be able to do that again. I went to call the hospital and they said it definitely sounded like my waters had broken and wanted me to shower and go to the hospital. Oh, and that I would be going home in 2 pieces. I then went to finish packing my many bags for the hospital and the birth. I started feeling some minor contractions just before leaving home. We left home and were at the hospital at 1:50.
When we arrived at the hospital, and had completed the long march from the Emergency entry, we checked into the birth suites. They hooked me up to a monitor to measure contractions and the baby's heart beat for 1/2 an hour. The contractions didn't seem to be too strong yet, so they had us walk around to see if we could get things going. The contractions did start to get stronger but were not yet unbearable. After a while, the midwife did a check to see how dilated I was, only to find out that I hadn't started to significantly dilate yet. They told me I could go and shower and that they were sending me over to the maternity ward to try to rest as things progressed. At about this point I wasn't feeling too well, and got rid of the food that Eric had cooked the night before. He wasn't too offended. The contractions started getting a bit stronger after the shower and I had one on the walk over to the maternity ward at about 4:30.
They set us up in a “private” room, and gave me some paracetamol for pain so that I could try to sleep for a while. Well, I tried to lay down in bed to rest because I was so tired, but when the next contraction hit it was too excruciating to be laying down. Even though I wanted to stand, I still had to wait for the contraction to be over to get up. I then went to the bathroom, as I was still leaking a lot of fluid, and discovered that the baby had a bowel movement because there was some meconium on the pad! Eric got the midwife, and she told me to shower. A few minutes later, while I was enjoying the shower because it was taking the edge off the contractions (I'm sure all of the women in the ward were enjoying listening me moaning through contractions), the midwife came in and told me to get out of the shower NOW because they were taking me right over to the birth suites and someone was waiting to take me. This was at about 5:30, but the preceding hour had felt like only 10 minutes had gone by to me.
I had 2 contractions on the way there. The walk seems so much longer when you have to stop and concentrate on that. The took us back into the room we were in before and left for about 5 minutes. Then the midwife came and took us over to the assessment room to do an ultrasound and check my dilation. They discovered that I was fully dilated, I could've told them that because I was getting a very strong urge to push. Then they did the ultrasound and discovered that the baby was breech! They then told me that I had to go for a c-section and they were going to get me ready as quickly as they could. They were all really great and made me feel pretty comfortable. This was at about 5:45. Eric enjoyed watching them insert the intravenous cannula, and the ensuing blood. It was done during a contraction, a period of time during which he had been banned from touching me. He isn't sure how they didn't get hit.
So while I was having these strong contractions and trying not to give in to the urge to push (easier said than done), they got me ready for the OR. They weren't sure if they were going to be able to do the spinal, or would have to put me right out because of time, but they did manage to get the spinal in quickly. It was nice to get it because I didn't feel the contractions any more and didn't have to worry about not pushing any more. I can't imagine what Eric was feeling as he was waiting for them to prep me and bring him into the OR.
Our baby girl Aletta Anne Fehr arrived at 6:27am. Eric got to go with her to be cleaned up and checked over. About an hour and a half later, they finished with me and took me to the maternity ward. Eric enjoyed spending time with her while waiting.
I'm sure I've missed a lot of detail and I'm only sure about the times because Eric was keeping track. It all seemed so much shorter to me.
Time line:
00:30 - Waters broke
01:50 - arrived hospital
02:20 - contractions every 2.5 minutes, 20-45 second duration
03:00 - contractions every 4 minutes, 20 second duration, more intense
04:00 - contractions every 2 minutes, 20 second duration
04:20 - puke puke puke
04:30 - sent to maternity ward waiting for labour to advance
05:15 – meconium stain, see midwife, see midwife panic
05:30 - sent back to birth suites for scan
05:45 - fully dilated, started prep for cesarean. Eject husband.
06:20 - husband allowed in (finally)
06:27 – birth
08:00 – return to maternity ward
08:20 – puke puke puke
Pictures:
http://pics.regolith.net/bub
New Aussie 
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