From El Camino Hospital

We had planned to go to the hospital later on tonight for the protein gel that would prepare Deborah to be induced Monday morning. Our doctor mentioned that there was a 5% chance that the protein gel itself would induce labor, so we were somewhat ready to become parents today -- although Deborah and I both were planning on spending a good chunk of the day tying up loose ends. The baby, however, apparently is determined to be a Sunday baby, and Deborah awoke early this morning to contractions 40-60 seconds in duration, around five minutes apart. After an hour of these contractions, we contacted the on-call doctor, who said that we should wait until the contractions were either consistently over 60 seconds in duration or the pain became unbearable. After another two hours of pain management -- massage, breathing exercises, strange positions, and a hot bath -- we finally headed off to the hospital, with Deb's parents following us (slowly) in our other car. The contractions had gotten much more intense by the time we arrived 20 minutes later, and we were quickly ushered into a labor room. Contrary to what you see on TV, labor typically takes quite a while -- usually 12 to 18 hours for a first pregnancy -- and the labor rooms at El Camino Hospital are quite nice, with cable TV and, most importantly, wireless Internet. We met our delivery nurse Sue, who performed the initial exam and told us that Deborah was already dilated 4-5 cm. With the contractions still growing in intensity, we asked for an epidural. Less than an hour after we arrived, after going through the discomfort of getting an IV and inserting the epidural, Deborah finally had a chance to catch up on her sleep (particularly important since she barely slept last night). Sue just left a few minutes ago, after inserting the catheter and performing another exam. Deborah's water broke in the process, and she's currently 6-7 cm dilated. We're hoping – and Sue thought the signs were promising -- that we'll follow in Caroline's footsteps and have a relatively short labor. Prayers at this point would be appreciated – especially as we were a little freaked out by some screaming next door. More blogging to follow.