The day that changed our lives

After months of being pregnant, reading all the books and articles on birth, and preparing your hospital bag, your house, and your life you think you are ready. You think that when it is time for that baby to come you will know exactly what to do and do it all calmly and with ease, at least I thought that. Boy was I wrong.

It all started the week before Christmas. I was at that point of my pregnancy where I really just wanted it to be over. I wanted to be comfortable, I wanted my little girl. At this weeks appointment the doctor told me I was 1cm dilated and 25% effaced. I was excited! Then he said it could stay like that for weeks before anything happened (thanks for popping my ballon of excitement) or I could have her tomorrow (oh look there it floats again!) The doctor suggested I have my membranes stripped to help reduce the need for an induction later, so I went for it. That was by far the most uncomfortable thing I had encountered, at least at that time it was. That was Tuesday.

The rest of the week passed without excitement. I had random contractions here and there that felt no worse than minor cramps. Everyday I walked into physical therapy and everyone would give me the "you're still pregnant" look or say things like " man you look like you are ready to go." I kindly nodded along wishing they would stop reminding me how uncomfortable I looked and felt. On Friday night I went to sleep around 11:30-12:00, thinking nothing was going to happen. I hadn't felt any contractions at all that day just some pain in my hip joints, the same as any other night.

At 2 o'clock in the morning on Saturday I woke up thinking I peed the bed. I was pretty annoyed about this because I hadn't even been dreaming of water or anything. Then I moved and had no control over the liquid I felt coming out. I nudged my husband and told him "hey, hey, I think my water just broke." Immediately he gets up grabs me a towel and starts getting dressed, completely calm. I on the other hand I'm frozen. Sitting there trying to make sense of the words that just came out of my mouth. "It's happening! It's really happening!" " holy crap I'm about to be a parent" " OMG!" " what do I do now" are just a few of the thoughts that were buzzing around my head, it is safe to say I was freaking out. I started hyperventilating. Keith came over gave me my clothes and assured me everything was going to be okay. I couldn't comprehend how he was staying so calm, it was actually annoying me that he was Mr. CalmAndPrepared and I was over here having a panic attack.

Some how I managed to get dressed and called my Mom to let her know what was going on. I called the hospital to let them know that we would be there soon and you know what they said, wait. That's right they wanted me to hold off and call them back in an hour. This was nothing like on TV. Usually when someone's water breaks on TV they rush to the hospital. Why on earth did they want me to wait!!! I couldn't believe it. By the time we finished getting ready to go an hour had passed and I called the hospital again. You know what they said!!! Wait!!! What?! Wait again, really? What about what they do on TV? They told me to head on over around five , take a shower and eat something small. So we head back inside ( I had called them from the car.) Keith made me a pb&j and we sat and waited. Those two hours took forever.

By 5:30 we were sitting in a room waiting for the nurse to make sure my water had broken. They told me a lot of women think that their water breaks and it is usually nothing. And I was thinking really! I know it's broken you don't have to do a test! Sure enough as soon as she got a look down there, before doing this q tip like test she confirmed my water had broken. I wanted to say I told ya so, but I knew she was just doing her job. So they admitted us and took us to our room. This room was awesome. It was huge! It had all the equipment needed to deliver the baby, check her, wash her and all that jazz so that we did not have to be separated.

Waiting for the nurse to do the initial exam. 

Just before they hooked me up to the monitors. 

When I was settled into my bed, monitors strapped to my belly and arm, IV in the wrist, and freshly checked I was 5 cm dilated and 98% effaced. The waiting began again. Thanks to technology and the hospital wifi I was able to Skype my family in Florida. So my Mom, sisters and Tubbs waited with us.

Talking to my family on Skype!

Do y'all watch FRIENDS? Well when Rachel is having her baby she meets this women that is also having a baby. Rachel tries to scare her about contractions and how bad they hurt because the lady said her's were not bad at all and she makes this weird noise every time she has one. Well I felt like that lady. My contractions were there but they just felt like small cramps. They made my decision to do this without an epidural seem like a sane idea. At 9:30 the doctor came in and told me my contractions had become irregular and there was to much time in between them. He told me if my water hadn't broke he wouldn't worry about it but it had, and my baby needed to come out soon. So here came the shot of Pitocin. This is when the pain started. My contractions felt like cramps x a billion and set on fire. By 11 o'clock the pain was excruciating. I had wanted to do this without any pain killers but the Pitocin had turned my contractions into the Hulk. So I asked for the drugs. The nurse gave me a shot of fentanyl. Oh sweet fentanyl. I still could feel the pain but it was distant. I was on a cloud floating above my body. That feeling was short lived though, I knew it wouldn't last long. They had warned me it would only last 30 minutes. As soon as the 30 minutes passed the pain came back. I was ready for it though. Before I was so exhausted and I couldn't take it, but I had rested and was ready to finish the job.

This is where things really get started. About 15 minutes after the medicine wore off the pain had reached an all time high and I knew it was time to push. Keith went to get the doctors and then came back and fixed my computer so my family could watch and cheer me along on Skype. Once the pushing started things are a little blurry. I know it went fast with only 8-10 pushes and lasted about 20 minutes. I remember them asking if I wanted to touch her head. I thought that was weird and passed on it. They kept telling me she was so close to being here and I just needed to push a little more. I was so exhausted and tired I didn't understand why they couldn't just pull her out, I mean they said she was right there. I am pretty sure I asked them too. That is when our nurse said if they could do that then it wouldn't be called labour. It hurt so badly. I didn't yell at Keith and blame him or anything but I kept telling him how much it hurt. He responded with "I know baby, I know it hurts." And he didn't know. In a break between pushes I said " No, no you don't know." My logic for saying his was he would never have this feeling and couldn't possibly know how it hurt. I said this in such a small exhausted voice that he laughs about it now.

I finally gave the last push and out she came. Immediately the pain stopped as well. I mean things stung a bit but it was nothing like it had been before. When I first saw my baby girl, the first thing I said was " She doesn't have eyebrows!" But she was the most beautiful thing in the world. I mean at least I thought so, but when I look back at pictures of when they first gave her to me she is a little scary looking. Don'tcha think?

Ah she is beautiful ( you have to look past all the gunk.)

In all this crazy chaos, our wonderful nurse grabbed our camera and started clicking away. I am so thankful for him because if he had not picked up that camera we would not have photos of Little Miss Cherry's first moments of life.

Getting our first good look at our baby girl.

Once things settled and I had my baby girl on my chest I turned to my computer to show her to my family. I had thought it was just my Mom, Tubbs and the girls but there was my brother, my dad, and step mom too. It was amazing. My brother was on Skype with my sister and she had turned her computer toward the screen I was on so my family in Texas could "be there" with me as well, seriously technology is such a blessing some times.

Showing her off to the family

My little darling was born on 12-22-12 at 12:21pm. I kept saying that Santa came early and delivered her to us but then I thought why does he get the credit. I did all the work and it was hard! I am really proud of myself for delivering her without pain meds because while I was pushing I kept thinking I couldn't do it. I really wanted to stop because of the pain but you can't really do that.

My little family.

Cutting the umbilical cord (for the second time.)

My tiny baby, at 6lbs 10oz. I was scared she we would be a 10 pounder.

First bath.

Holding his baby girl for the first time. 

Aw look at how beautiful she is now that she is all cleaned up!

Fun fact: The doctor told me that six out of ten women that come in say they are going to do it without the epidural and only one of those six actually follow through with it :)

I can't believe a month has passed since this life changing event. She has grown so much since then, it amazes me everyday how much she just keeps changing. She is only a month old but I already miss my tiny newborn that couldn't fit into her clothes because it was to big, now things are to small.