While sitting on the couch watching the Olympic trials, I said to Chris, "I should blog." In a shocked tone he replied, "You're going to write a blog?" What can I say? As we tried together to remember how to log into this blog we created two years ago, we finally saw our blog and were reminded that it had been seven months since either one of us have blogged. Why you may ask....well, I guess we've had an eventful 7 months. Everyone told us, "your lives will be changed forever," and we knew that, but I'm not sure either one of us were prepared for how our lives would be forever different. Can anyone be prepared? (Sorry! This next portion got out of control in length. I apologize. If you want the short version....we had a baby girl!)
On December 21st, Chris and I woke up just like any other day, but I was disappointed. I was 4 days overdue with our first child. I had worked on Monday, December 19, but then went in for a non-stress test because it seemed that the baby wasn't moving as much as she had been. I had high blood pressure and was overdue, so my doctor said - "you need to wrap up work." There were only two days left until Christmas break, but I begrudgingly agreed. Chris and my mom had been telling me that I needed to be done for a few days already. I had an awesome pregnancy and continued to feel well right up until the end. Chris and I had diligently been going on walks after I had taught all day long in an attempt to prod this little one out - before Christmas came. I finally gave into them...and the doctor. But, what's a girl to do but just sit around and wait for the baby to come? I was determined that wasn't a great idea either. I needed to keep moving or this baby was never going to come. I spent my time baking - 'tis the season.
I had an appointment with Dr. Ivey on Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 21st). Chris was working all day, so I went by myself. Nothing had changed since my previous appointment. I was 1-2 cm dilated and 90% effaced. I was progressing, but I wanted her to tell me that I was in labor! :) I had been having contractions since Monday - nothing major, just a few here and there. Dr. Ivey striped my membranes and sent me on my way. I remember stopping at Walgreens on the way home and thinking to myself, "yeah, I think I'm having contractions...but will they end up being anything?" Chris got home from work and we ate dinner seemingly like every other night for the last year and a half. As we finished up dinner I looked at Chris and said, "maybe we should start timing these contractions." He was enthralled in something on TV and didn't really register what I said. So I stopped him and repeated myself. He got all excited and said, "really, you think we should time them...ok!" He was pretty pumped about this task as he had downloaded an app on his iPhone months prior to keep track of my contractions during labor. He pulled up his app and we started the process at roughly 6:30 pm. After timing them for about 60 minutes, we determined they were about 5 minutes apart, and we took a break from timing. We chatted and watched some TV knowing that we were in this for the long haul! A while later they seemed to be coming more quickly, so we decided to time them again. This time, we didn't time them as long but they were between 3-5 minutes apart. Dr. Ivey had told us to come in when contractions were 3-5 minutes apart, but I was convinced I wanted to labor at home as long as possible, so I convinced Chris that we should close our eyes and try to get some rest. At 9:30, I laid down on the couch and closed my eyes. The contractions were getting closer and more intense. Shortly after I had a terrible contraction, I heard a "pop" sound. Then a warm trickle started down my leg. I looked at Chris and said, "I think my water just broke."
"What? Are you serious? What should we do?"
"Well, why don't you get me a towel, and then we can call Dr. Ivey." As I went to the bathroom Chris called the doctor, who wanted nothing to do with talking to him, but wanted to talk to me. She advised us to start getting packed up and head in to the hospital. Well, me, being me, everything was already packed (and had been for weeks). So, we called my mom to tell her we were headed in and jumped in the car. I remember thinking, "Are we going to the hospital too early? How much longer is this labor going to be?" Ultimately we were both excited to be meeting our baby - would it be a girl or a boy? What would he/she look like? Chris then started making a few calls to close family and friends to let them know we were in labor and it was at that point that I thought, "ok, we are headed to the hospital at the right time." You see, a few months back my friend, Heather (mother of four), shared that it would be time to go to the hospital when Chris was no longer funny. And, I was thoroughly irritated by the fact that he was talking to people on the way to the hospital. You see, once my water broke, the contractions started coming more and more quickly and were more and more intense. I wanted his full attention on me and the fact that I was in pain, not calling people to let them know of our status. (Looking back, I can acknowledge that those WERE important phone calls at the time, but being a women in labor, all rationality had escaped me.)
We arrived at the hospital to register around 10 pm. Luckily, the woman at registration realized that I was in quite a bit of pain and said, "why don't you head down to OB and we will take care of this later." Perfect! You gotta love small hospitals! On our short walk to OB, we had to stop for contractions 3 times. At this point, I knew things were progressing (or should I say, I hoped they were!) The nurses in OB were very welcoming as I announced that we were there to make their night more interesting. And we did just that. The nurse checked me to share that I was three cm dilated which was NOT what I wanted to hear! I was hoping for 5...wishful thinking. They attempted to "find" my contractions on the monitor to know avail. I tried hard to be pleasant, but the thoughts going through my mind were less than pleasant. I didn't understand why they needed a monitor to tell them that I was having contractions when CLEARLY they were coming strong and consistently. They then tried to start my IV, which also irritated me because lying in bed was the LAST place I wanted to be. They were unable to find my veins after a couple of pokes and eventually decided I could get up for a while and they'd try later.
Chris and I walked up and down the hallways, stopping for each contraction. I would put my arms around his neck and "hang on him" as I breathed and worked through each contraction. Poor guy! Eventually we tried the tub and that seemed to help for a while. The next time the nurse checked me it was around midnight and she announce that I was 8 cm dilated. I was thrilled with that progress knowing that it wouldn't be much longer. The nurses got a bit concerned though and started transforming the room into a delivery room while they called Dr. Ivey again. Chris and I continued our walking adventure - although our walking was slower and the contractions were longer. Dr. Ivey arrived (after being pulled over by the City of Charlevoix police for speeding) and checked me only to say I was NOT 8 cm dilated, but rather 6. I wanted to scream! To a woman in labor, you do not want to go backwards. I knew I most likely hadn't, but rather the nurse miscalculated. At that point the nurses wanted to put in an IV again. I remained more irritated that I was made to lie in bed and poked like a pin cushion. I ended up with many bruises to prove my poor fate, but eventually they did get their IV saline lock in (just in case).
Chris and I went back to our walking and stopping by to visit my mom and brother, Rob, in the waiting room occasionally. We went back into the tub for a second time and while in there I said, "I have to push!" Dr. Ivey encouraged me to get out of the tub and as they got the bed ready, the contractions continued to force my body to push as well. At about 2:30 am she checked me again and determined that we could start pushing. Somewhere around 2:40 I began pushing and shortly after found my groove. I remember Dr. Ivey explaining that on the next push we were going to deliver the babies head, then we would take a break for her to suction out the babies mouth and nose and then deliver the rest of the baby. I knew it was going to take a good push to get the head out, so I gave it all I had. And then came a slippery gush...oops! I knew at that point the baby was out! I heard her cry and Dr. Ivey say, "daddy, what is it?" Chris says, "ugh, I don't know, I can't see." And then finally, "it's a girl" as she was laid on my chest. Nothing in this world can describe that moment. This little girl that we had prayed and prepared for was finally here! We were so excited. After some mom snuggles, daddy got his time in and grandma too. She was perfect! 7 lbs 11 oz, 20 3/4 inches long and born at 3:12 am. We were pretty proud parents.
And that is the REALLY LONG version of why I haven't blogged in seven months. Those seven months have been full of the most joy and love anyone can imagine. Not much sleep, lots of poopy diapers, even more feeding, but so much more joy and love. Who knew someone could be so cute at 11pm, 1am, 3am, and 5am??? The way she moves, discovers things, the noises she makes, and her smiles melt our hearts. We love you Quinn Annabelle!
