A New Life

Adia,


Well, Little One, we will soon be celebrating your first birthday.  The year has flown by in a way, but then again it feels like you've been here forever. I can hardly remember what it was like holding you when you were just 6 pounds and 11 ounces. I tell myself not to be sucked into missing you as a newborn baby, because then I would miss all the new and crazy things you are learning to do now! But, I'd like to reminiscence just a little bit right now so I can share your birth story.


The week of June 20th, 2010 I started noticing some cramp-like pains in my belly. But I didn't realize they were contractions because they would only stick around for half a day. I just thought they were little muscle pains from my big belly. On Thursday June 24th, I woke up with contractions and they continued throughout the day. I called Memsie around 2 o'clock in the afternoon to tell her about the pains. She came over to my house and we started to time how far apart the contractions were coming. By 5 o'clock in the evening, the contractions were coming 2-3 minutes apart. I knew I should head to the hospital soon.

Your Daddy was at work until 9 o'clock that night. So, I called Daddy and said, "I think I want to go ahead to the hospital when you get home."  Well, apparently he sensed no urgency in my voice, because when he got home he took a shower and packed like we were going on a week long vacation! I was thinking to myself, "Well, maybe I should leave without him." I was trying to remain calm, so I gently said, "Eddie, I'm seriously in labor - it's not super painful, but I just really don't want to have this baby here." After about 30-45 minutes we were finally ready to head to McLeod Hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 10:30 that night. They admitted me into the Labor and Delivery section so they could verify whether or not I was in labor. They offered me a wheelchair and I said, "No thanks, I'm able to walk. We'll save the wheelchair for afterward." Once we got placed in a room, I laid down on the bed with a monitor strapped to my belly. The monitor determined that sure enough, I was in active labor. The nurse said I was 3 centimeters dilated. With my contractions being so hard and fast, she suspected that we'd have you in a few hours. But, there was a different plan en route. Around 12 o'clock, I got an epidural. (If you're reading this when you're a grown woman and in favor of a natural birth..Sorry, but your Mama likes drugs) Actually, I got two epidurals because the first one didn't work in the area the nurse first stuck me. I was told by moms that the epidural was the worst part, but I didn't feel it going into my back either time.

Pretty & swollen. Before epidural.

 

Honestly, I was never in any real pain, even before the epidural. The nurses were shocked that I walked up to the unit without any assistance. And they were surprised how well I was taking the contractions. At one point Memsie said, "Are the contractions hurting pretty bad?" My response was, "No, they aren't bad at all. They just feel like cramps."  The nurse, while looking at the contractions monitor, said, "Um, no, they are pretty bad contractions. You must have an extremely high pain tolerance."  This is my secret to getting through what you know is going to be painful - Imagine the very worst pain possible. If you expect it to be horrible and if you expect it to keep getting worse, you are going to get through it just fine. But I still got the epidural anyway.

Around 1 o'clock in the morning, on June 25th, the doctor finally broke my water. By 5 o'clock that morning I was ready to start pushing and at 8:30 that same morning I was still pushing. I was highly exhausted from not sleeping at all through the night and from three and a half hours of pushing. Finally, the doctor realized that you were not going to be able to fit through my bones. And by that time, I had completely stopped contracting!! The doctor decided to do an emergency c-section. The following few minutes were pretty scary because nurses were flocking in prepping me for surgery. I was so overwhelmed by the fast paced emergency mode, I cried.  I think it was a combination of exhaustion, relief and nervousness.

But hallelujah, you were born at 9:05 in the morning on June 25th, 2010 - which was your actual DUE DATE!! You weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and you were 20 inches long.

Going home on Sunday June 27, 2010

Everything else in the whole world didn't matter anymore. A new little life was finally here. You were finally in our arms. And, yes, I would do it all over again.

I love you so much, my sweet Little One!