A baby story

I know this post is 6 months late, but for Mariah's sake I've got to write it down before I forget anything!  Jump in my magic time machine and meet me back in August 2010.....

I was 39 weeks and 3 days on Monday morning when I faced the fact that my ass was not going back into the office until that baby was on the outside!  Yoga pants are apparently not office appropriate attire ;)  I was secretly hoping she would show up on Monday because how awesome would a birthday of 8/9/10 be?!  Alas, it was not meant to be.  I had been having contractions but totally irregular - one day I would have 7, the next day none - so I was sure she would be born after her due date.  At my doctor's appointment on Tuesday I had my cervix checked for the first time (yeah, ouch??  Why do people want to be checked every week?  Crazies!)  I was at about a 2 so for all we knew it could still be weeks!  The doctor scheduled my induction for August 20 just in case I made it that long.  I should mention here that I LOVE my OB/GYN.  L.O.V.E.  Also important to note is that my due date was August 13 and my doctor (the previously mentioned LOVED one) was going on vacation for 2 weeks starting August 16.  Also a good time to mention that at this point in time I thought the other two doctors in his practice were arrogant jackasses.  Needless to say, I needed this baby to show up before August 16!  Okay, moving on!

I woke up to pee about 4:00 on Wednesday morning.  I was just about to get back to sleep when Niagara Falls moved to Utah and landed on my bed.  Seriously, y'all.  There was no doubt what was going on, but first time mom that I am I went back to the bathroom and tried to figure out if I had wet my bed or if this was IT.  It was!  I holler for Clint to get his act together and went in to take a shower.  I grabbed some snacks for the car since I knew those nurses would refuse to feed me once I got there and off we went!  We dropped the dogs off at grandma's and my cute dad was up and dressed at 5 AM - he was so excited!  We got to the hospital and they moved me to a triage room to see if my water really had broken.  Some jerk nurse checked me again and it was the worst part of the whole ordeal.  I think she had razors for fingers.  This same jerk nurse said that it didn't appear to be amniotic fluid, but I think her shift was just almost over and she didn't want to deal with it.  She left and my new BFF Gail came in and re-tested the reservoir in my bed and got us checked in!

My contractions were still pretty far apart at this time - 7 or 8 minutes - and I was still just at a 2, but they wanted the baby out within 24 hours of my water breaking to prevent infection so they started me on the pitocin.  I was doing fine until I got to about a 5 and that last contraction had me in tears.  Luckily they said I was good to go for an epidural and they had it in before the next contraction hit.  It was all smooth sailing from there!  My parents and brother showed up at some point - I think about 10:00 in the morning.  The nurse checked me again around 1:30 (I think?  who the hell knows) and I was complete!  They kicked the family out and on the next contraction I started pushing.  I pushed for a few contractions and then they shared the news that my doctor was not actually AT the hospital, and could I just breathe through the rest of the contractions until he showed up?  Right after they taught me HOW to push they want me to stop?!  I was a good girl and followed directions.  My doctor finally showed up just after 3:00, and 3 contractions later I saw the most priceless look of awe on Clint's face as our sweet baby girl was born at 3:18.

We spent about an hour in the recovery room snuggling and then my family came in to meet their new ruler.  She had everyone wrapped from the first minute.  It was a beautiful time for our family after a very hard year.  We were moved to our room and settled in for our first night.  Bless Clint's heart he stayed on the totally uncomfortable almost-a-couch and I'm sure got zero sleep.  We had so many friends and family come to visit and felt so much love for this baby girl already.  I am blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life!

On day 2, the resident pediatrician came by with some not-great news.  Mariah and I had incompatible blood types and she had a very high bilirubin level.  She got a fancy mask and under the lights she went!  I felt like bad mom of the year when I had to call the nurse in the middle of the night to take the baby to the nursery - there was no way I could even attempt to sleep with those dang lights!  Clint was home that night and I was able to get some sleep in between feedings.  On Friday morning, Mariah's blood was re-tested and her levels appeared to be dropping so we were allowed to take her home!  My pregnancy and delivery with Mariah were so good - Clint couldn't believe how calm and non-stressful the whole delivery was.  Maybe there will be a #2 someday :)

**If you made it through this novel you deserve a prize!