Today, my first baby turns 8!!!
I don't normally intend to post tons of personal things here {you never know, things can change}, but I'm making an exception {plus, it's Saturday}. FYI...this is going to be a long and wordy post.
I have been wanting {for quite a while} to record the pregnancy/birth stories of all of my kids and thought this {blog} would be a great time to do it {yes, I know by some mother's standards I would be deemed a bad mother for not already doing this...oh well}.
I wish I had pics to add, but we were still doing "film" pics and digitizing them has not been at the top of my to-do list.
So here goes...baby #1
Today my first baby turns eight! Sigh...{cliche to say, but...} how and why do they grow so fast?!?
My hubby {daddy} and I had been married for four short months when we found out we were expecting. We wanted to have kids sooner than later after getting married, but we didn't think it would happen
that quick. {due to some female issues and surgery I had gone through, my doctor had told be it could take a while to get pregnant.}
We discovered I was pregnant on November 28, 2003. We were literally getting ready to walk out the door to go out with my hubby's childhood best friend & girlfriend who were in town from LA. We had closed on our house one week before {the entire home looking & buying process had been horribly miserable, and I was incredibly stressed, hormonal, and emotional through it all...our findings on November 28th explained it all}.
My pregnancy was wonderful and awful {both} at the same time.
Morning sickness started within a week of finding out I was pregnant and lasted until my sixth month! Eating was miserable. Nearly every food smell made my stomach turn. The only food that I craved or could hold down for the first two months were McDonald's cheeseburgers and plain potato chips {how disgusting that sounds now!}.
On the flip side, it was my most relaxed pregnancy {not having to chase after any other children or needing to care for someone else}. I could relax and sleep anytime I wanted {outside of work}. People doted on me...it was lovely! The overall feelings of carrying a child were beyond wonderful words!
My due date was July seventeenth. My doctor told me at an appointment, on June twenty-fourth, he was certain I would deliver early! I was so excited and thrilled to meet our baby and to find out if it was a boy or girl!
{I always had a deep down feeling I was having a girl, and really wanted a girl, but had a little gut feeling I was just fooling myself.}
I wished my doctor hadn't mentioned going into labor early...each day came with hope of going into labor...and then left!
My due date came...and went!
My doctor went on a three week summer vacation {the nerve!!!}.
My "fill-in" doctor refused to induce me. He was certain my due date had been calculated incorrectly because I wasn't overly huge {I didn't get huge with any of my pregnancies...I carried them deep into my back}.
On August second I
finally convinced the "fill-in" doctor to induce me {I think he was tired of my whining}.
Sadly, the hospital labor and delivery unit was too full! So we had to wait for them to call me in when they had space.
On August third in the late afternoon, my hubby and I set out to go to the brand new IKEA in the Minneapolis area. While there...trapped in the herd of people, I finally got the call that we could go in.
We made it to the hospital around six pm and got checked in, set up in the room, settled in, and a short bit later the nurse was in telling us how inducing, and the process, was all going to happen.
A few minutes later, everything was happening.
Pitocin given. Contractions started. Walking. Contractions intensified. Epidural accepted. Water broken. Exhausted. Crazy wicked contractions. Not dilating. Awful nausea. Even more intense contractions. Extreme pain. Vomiting. Exhausted. Still not dilating. Still extremely painful contractions. Posterior baby. Mommy in pain. Morning. Still no baby. Strong contractions. Exhausted. Continued labor. Mommy "blacking out". Not dilating. Mommy's heart rate drops. Baby's heart rate drops. Doctors decide emergency c-section.
Everything at this point moved very quick. I was moved to the O.R. Daddy was given scrubs and told to wait just outside the O.R. for 5 minutes while they prepped me.
Throughout the entire laboring, I kept telling the nurse I didn't feel any relief or different after my epidural was given. Everyone seemed to roll their eyes at me and pass me off as being a "wuss" and insisted I was fine. It was in the O.R. that it was discovered my epidural never "took". As the nurses were prepping me they explained what they were doing since I couldn't feel it...low and behold I could feel
everything they were doing. I was still having intense contractions and blacking out...my heartbeat and the baby's heartbeat continued to drop...
BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...I opened my eyes to the ceiling of a recovery room {not in the labor and delivery unit} and beeping of machines.
The recovery room nurses had no details of my delivery or stats of my baby {despite my asking over and over each time I "came to"}. They didn't even know if the baby was OK! The not knowing about my baby was more painful than the pain my body was in. I cried and cried when I was awake. I was in recovery for nearly three hours before being transported back to labor and delivery.
Back to labor and delivery {in a different room than I had checked into} I was greeted by a very proud daddy and a perfect, gorgeous baby girl!
She was born at 3:02 in the afternoon. Twenty-one inches long. Seven pounds, eleven ounces. A beautiful head of blonde hair that looked like she had just gotten high-lights and low-lights. Completely healthy {and confirmed overdue by about three weeks!}.
Daddy never made it into the operating room. When it was determined I had no epidural relief and my heart rate was dropping they moved quick and put me completely under.
Being a mommy to this precious girl has been such an unbelievable blessing and gift! I am so crazy blessed to have been entrusted with this beautiful, smart, outgoing, loving, charismatic life.
While everyday I wish I could cradle you in my arms and wish that you wouldn't grow so quickly, I cannot wait to see what kind of a precious woman you grow into.
All my love!
-Mommy
