Happy 12th Birthday Autumn!!

Twelve years ago yesterday, on Jan 2nd I awoke to my water breaking three weeks early with my first born. The contractions hadn't started, so I wasn't concerned. I sent my husband into work. Then I called the doctor. Then I called my husband (he hadn't even gotten in to work yet and we only lived 10-15 minutes away from his work, lol) to tell him he needed to come back home because the doctor wanted to see me. So he came back home and we went to the OB/GYN. My contractions had just started, nothing bad. He was a nice old guy who checked me and said yes that was definitely your water but your not really effaced and only 1-2 cm dilated. Go home,  labor a bit, he gave me a run down of what I could do and what I couldn't do, and said go to the hospital when your contractions are 5 minutes apart. We went home, I called my mom and cried I wasn't ready to have my baby that day, I wasn't prepared, I had no car seat, no stroller (so much for calm and collected, lol) and all of a sudden I got violently ill. Something wasn't right, I had Dan take me to the hospital. By the time I got there the nurses took one look at me, took my blood pressure and rushed me to a room to change into a gown and get an IV and magnesium sulfate started ASAP. My blood pressure had skyrocketed between the time I was in his office and the time I got home and I had pre-eclampsia.

The nurse told me to breathe. I complained I didn't know how to breathe I hadn't gotten to finish my Lamaze classes. She told me that was silly, everyone knows how to breathe. I breathed. I spent the next 8 or 9 hours in a fog. I remember once after a couple fo hours a nurse scolding Dan who was sitting on the loveseat watching football, that he should be over with me holding my hand, helping me...I remember opening one eye looking at her and telling her sternly, "He's fine. Right over there." I am not a touchy feely person, I certainly don't like to be touchy feely when I don't feel good, lol.

Around dinner time my Mom, my sister, and my best friend Liz arrived. They didn't want everyone in my room, I was too sick. They did get to come in eventually and see me for a few minutes though. They had just finished giving me my epidural and I was still sitting up. I only heard about it afterwards, but my friend and my sister were freaked out, I was swollen and huge...like the Stay Puff marshmallow man huge. And the nurses' seriousness was alarming. When it was finally time to push around 10 that evening. They cleared the room and said only Dad could stay. I told them my Mom was staying. I feared Dad would faint during the delivery. I don't know if it was because I was a first timer, or the epidural was high or if it was because they spent so much time trying to stretch me around her tiny head before they did an episiotomy but it was two hours of pushing. When she crowned the delivering doctor says "Look at all that HAIR!" My mom drops me mid-contraction goes down to the action end, and squeals so loud my sister and friend heard her out in the hall, lol. Dad facing the non-action end says "that's OK, I'll look at it after she's here." When she was finally delivered, they ask Dad if he would like to cut the cord. Dad says, "No thank you." like they were offering him a beverage or a snack, lol. My mom got to cut the cord. After havign six children of her own, this was the first birth she had ever witnessed.

"Hey New World, WAZ" UP?!"

Aunt Kim checks to see all her Toes are there. Check out all that dark hair!

Dad holds his new bundle of joy.

Mom hold her new new baby girl...so hard to believe she was once that tiny and now she's almost bigger than me!