YOU'RE HERE! This is you, at 11 days old. Daddy couldn't help but be in this chalkboard picture, announcing your long-awaited arrival :)
The details:: I had your 39 week chalkboard all ready to go, but you had other plans! On October 9th, at 4:45am, I got up to go to the bathroom. As soon as I got out of bed and started walking, I knew something was off. I felt a gush, and was 99% certain my water had just broken. I went to the bathroom, cleaned myself up, and went back to bed, convinced I had just peed myself (again). Thank goodness I had a towel next to the bed, because about 10 minutes later, as I was Googling "what does it feel like when your water breaks?", Daddy came in and saw that I was wide awake. I told him I thought my water had just broken, and he told me I was crazy because we were still 8 days away from our due date. As soon as he said that, it was like the floodgates opened. All over the towel AND the bed.
We already had everything all packed, and Daddy very calmly drove us to the hospital. I was checked in triage at 3.5 cm dilated, and they confirmed I was leaking amniotic fluid. You were on your way!
From there, I started having contractions. I cannot describe them to you in any other way, except that they really are like an "event". Everyone was right when they said that you know them when you feel them. (That's about the time I started begging for an epidural. Turns out your mommy is not as tough as she thought.)
I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing by 1:30pm. I will not lie and say that it was an easy labor. You were what they call "sunny side up" and you just refused to turn face down. I pushed with every contraction until about 5:30pm, when the sassy Dr. Phaedra Lombard came in. She told me flat out that I needed to push harder, and longer, and that I was "going to have this baby whether I liked it or not." Her sassiness must have been exactly what I needed to hear, because she was calling in the delivery team before I knew it. It was 45 minutes of the most excruciating pain I've ever felt in my entire life. Your daddy did SUCH a good job holding my hand and coaching me through it.
We finally got to meet you at 6:14pm on October 9, 2014. You weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces, and were 21-1/4 inches long. All of the nurses, and even the sassy Dr. Lombard, were shocked at how long you were, and how much beautiful, curly blonde hair you had! Daddy started crying and kissing you and soon as they put you on my chest.
It turns out that we both developed a low-grade fever during delivery, though. I also lost a lot of blood because of placenta detachment complications, and they took you to the NICU for a few hours while I got attended to by the nurses. I was wiped out, physically, mentally, and emotionally by that point, but knowing you were so far away in the NICU broke my heart.
We spent our first three days as a family in the hospital. During our stay, we discovered that my hemoglobin level was dangerously low so I received a blood transfusion to help me recover. That was also scary...thinking that I was not healthy enough to take care of you. We were discharged on October 12, and we've been getting to know each other as a family ever since.
Here you are, all stretched out for us, on your birthday...now no one can wonder why I complained about the near constant rib kicks during pregnancy!!
This is my last, favorite picture of you. Your beautiful eyes...your adorable chubby baby cheeks. I will forever remember you like this, little girl!
Mommy
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