The story

So it's been quite a while since I posted here. I really want to keep this up as a way for my daughter to look back and be able to read everything that went on in her life, if I can do a good enough job of keeping up with it!

On May 30th my mom and George came into town from Arizona. The joke had been that the baby needed to be born before Wednesday June 3rd so George could at least see her before he took off back to Arizona. My mom was staying for 10 days. Chad was on the road until May 31st. I picked him up from the bus and the 4 of us went walking. My mom and George also ran to buy castor oil and clary sage oil. Apparently, these are ways to "naturally" induce labor and if they don't work, then you're not ready. I had an appt June 1st to have my membranes stripped which would hopefully aid in the my water breaking on its own not long after. However, I needed to be a little more dilated to have this done. At my appointment the week before I was only a finger tip dilated! So I was hopeful that the next morning she would say, "You're 2!"

After our walk around the pedestrian bridge downtown I really wanted to go eat at Wild Ginger. We drove all the way out to Cool Springs. (At this point I had taken the castor oil and rubbed the clary sage oil on my wrists and ankles!) We got to the restaurant and had a great dinner. I started to feel cramping which I thought was from the castor oil. My "cramping" was coming every 2 minutes a part. But I still thought it wasn't anything. When we got home my mom ran a bath for me and I relaxed. The cramping stopped and we were all in bed by 9:30. Chad and I took unisom's to be able to get a really good night's rest. We were planning on walking like crazy the next! I wanted this baby out!

I got up to pee at 1:15AM. And I quickly went back to sleep. Chad got up 45 min after me to go to the bathroom. On his way back to bed I felt a little "pop" of fluid/pee come out. I quickly said to Chad, "Turn the light on, turn the light on!" And I think he turned every light on except the one I needed! ha! I said, "I think my water broke!" And he came over and looked at my little pile of fluid and said he thought I peed myself. But I had just gone to the bathroom and KNEW I didn't pee myself. So I stood up to go to the bathroom and have a look.

Once I stood up the flood gates opened and fluid was gushing out! It was definitely my water. I ran downstairs to get my mom in my tank top and underwear. All the way down the stairs leaving little puddles of amniotic fluid a long the way. Just in case I couldn't find my way back. I woke her and George up and then it was a mad house! Chad kept pacing the room and didn't quite know where to start. I had had my bags packed for about 2 weeks and since he just got home 12 hours before he didn't have his hospital bag packed! So he threw some stuff together and grabbed all the cameras! I wanted to shower before which everyone thought was crazy. So I got a hold of the on call doctor to let them know what happened. She said I had time to take a shower and labor at home if I wanted. Which I had NO intentions of doing. So I showered, got ready, and we were all packed up! I was "cramping" this whole time and realized at that moment, OH..these are CONTRACTIONS! They didn't hurt that bad at that point.

We got to the hospital and once again, I leaked amniotic fluid all the way down the halls! There was a trail leading to my labor room! I got admitted and in my room. They checked me. Finger tip dilated. WHAT?! My water broke and my contractions had been coming every 2 min. They discovered I had some scar tissue "down there" from a routine procedure I had to have last year. The nurse said that I should go ahead and get the epidural because once that scar tissue broke through, I was going to dilate to 10 fast and there would be no time. I did NOT want the epidural at this point. I really wanted to get to at least 5 or 6 CM's. (Now looking back on this I wonder why I thought this!!??) The epidural is not something that wears off so it doesn't matter when you get it as long as it's not too late!

I stayed a finger tip dilated for 9 hrs! I was so discouraged. I was contracting really well. They had given me pitocin to make my contractions more intense and nothing was happening. The contractions were definitely getting more intense though. I got some pain medicine, still didn't want the epidural. The pain medicine was incredible! It made me so loopy! And sleepy. I forgot I still hadn't slept. Everyone kept saying to take a nap, that I would need the strength to push. But I was so giddy and going on pure adrenaline at this point, I knew I wouldn't sleep.

I got the epidural. The nurse kept insisting considering the scar tissue and the fact that I still hadn't dilated any. She thought it could be at any time. Once I got the epidural I went to 3 CM's. I stayed there for a couple hours. Then when they checked me again, I was 7 CM's! She said I would be pushing within the hour. I was in shock. Then 20 min later I was 10! And we were "practice pushing"

It was at this moment that I decided I wasn't ready for her to come out. I needed the next 11 days to prepare a little more. I needed her to stay put just a little longer. So I got very emotional. Our lives as we knew it was about to change in an incredible way and I wasn't sure if I was ready for it. It was my, "OH, there's a baby in there!!???" moment. My little sisters had just gotten there from NC. Tawni had been there with my since 3 that morning and was a huge help. They all came in and we hugged and I cried and then they were gone and it was show time. I had to push this baby out. Through physical exhaustion I have never known, I pushed and pushed and pushed. Then quickly fell asleep in between contractions. Chad would wake me up and say it was time to push again. My mom was on one side and my Chad was on the other. Together they counted, helped hold my head up, kept encouraging me that I was actually doing it, I was making progress. I didn't want Chad looking "down there" so my mom would tell me if she could see more of the baby. After 42 minutes of strength that came from somewhere else, our daughter popped out! At 6:52 PM on June 1st.

They laid her on my chest and I was in shock. Here she was! Wow. Overwhelming emotion. Chad and I looked at each other through tears in our eyes and could NOT believe what had just happened. Chad cut the cord and went to be with the baby while they cleaned her up.

We were able to spend about 2 hours with her in our labor room before they took her for her bath. As I write this, I'm still in awe of that day. We went to the sleep the night before with her still all snugly in my belly and went to bed the next night with our daughter in our arms. We were in love from the moment we saw her. She was beautiful and I couldn't believe she was OURS!

We went to sleep that night with a new person in this world. One that we had made. We couldn't stop staring at her. We couldn't stop touching her and rubbing her little tiny face. She was perfect. We had just experienced one of life's greatest moments and sleep didn't come easy that night, we were too in love.