Adele Louise

It was your typical Friday, just another day over my due date and I didn't feel any closer to having this baby than the day before. That night we went to Maggie Coleman's high school graduation BBQ at the Coleman house (which was the house I lived in when I graduated from High School, talk about a wave of nostalgia!) I ate a ton of food (I bet that's what did it right there, pushed that baby right out) and I actually had a coke with hopes of jumpstarting something with a little caffeine. After the bbq we took the kids to the waterfront park and walked around. Then we went home and put them to bed. At about 9pm as we were lounging on the couch watching The First 48 (it's a sweet crime show on A&E) I started having light contractions every 15 minutes. After 45 minutes they started to get closer, down to about 10-12 minutes.

We decided to call Carly to give her a heads up. We all decided that if in an hour I was still having them, I'd go and check in. That way it'd still be early enough for Carly to come to the house and for us to get things going at the hospital. Well, an hour later we were down to about 5-7 minutes. I called the hospital and Carly and Chad came over. As we were getting our stuff ready to go it felt like the contractions were kind of going away. So I actually jogged a couple of laps around our driveway. Yeah right, I didn't want to be the girl checking in and being sent home in front of all my co-workers (I work there, remember?!) We hopped in the car and left. Sure enough when I got to the hospital they were back. (11:45ish PM) My friend Mandi checked me in. The nurse checked where I was at and after talking to Dr. Christen they decided to admit me for delivery. They put us in room 14, the room with the nicest view apparently. My parents called and said they were coming to hang out.

(1:00ish AM)My mom got there and asked me why I didn't order an epidural yet. I told her I was trying to be brave as long as I could. Then she pretty much told me you should just order it, why feel it if you don't have to? Don't you want to enjoy this? So I ordered it and two hours (2:30 or 3:00ish AM) later Dr. Ramirez came to administer the epidural. I got all wimpy and cried, ooooooooh it hurt. But then it was oh so good. SO GOOD that I was numb up to my arm pits. (5:30ish AM)I asked the nurse if that was ok. She said nope, and called Ramirez to find the solution. (Right around this time Kris arrived) He had her come and turn it down/or off, not sure. When she came back to do that I had started to feel a lot of pain in my left hip. Like, LOADS of pain. Every time I had a contraction I thought my hip was going to break. But the funny thing was, my chest was still numb. I had made it to that final 7-10cm stage and Dr. Christen came in right about that time (6:10ish?? I'm starting to forget....) He said I was ready to go and gave me the option to start pushing or to wait til we fixed the hip thing. We gave it a few minutes then went for it.

Dr. Christen told me that once the baby's head was out he'd have me stop so they could pump her stomach, she'd swallowed meconium (also known as poo in the womb). So I pushed once, they had me wait while they sucked poo out of her mouth and tummy. Jake and my mom told me she had A LOT of dark hair. When I was able to push again, it took 1 and a half pushes and she was out. (6:19 AM) She was perfect!!! And not just in a biased way that any mom would say, but she had a perfectly round head. No bumps or humps or bruises or broken blood vessels. Just a perfect girl. I was so clear headed and remember thinking how awesome those two minutes of my life were. I just couldn't stop looking at her. There are a few moments in my life that I remember pure JOY, where time stands still and I am consciously thinking to myself what a wonderful life I have and how much I am blessed, all in .2 milliseconds.... and that was one of them.

There she was. Miss Adele Louise, 8lbs 3oz and 19in long. Long dark hair and beautiful bow lips. The rest of the stay was nice. We ate such good food that day, got lots of naps and let it all set in that our daughter had finally arrived. Jake was a champ and was been and has been a great help ever since. I have felt AMAZING during my recovery. I started exercising two weeks later. Adele sleeps pretty much through the night and nursing is going great. I am loving this stage which has been difficult in the past. We feel so blessed to have her in our home and in our family. The boys have been great with her. Jack was a little difficult for the first couple of weeks, as to be expected, but has since returned back to his normal self.

I am now back at work and missing my baby every second I'm on the clock. I love this girl so much that I just might have another one ;)