A baby story

So we've been a little busy. But I figured I should update so I can remember all the details later!

On Saturday, January 21st we had a pretty normal day to start. Hayden and I got up and watched cartoons, waited on Jay to get up, cleaned and did some laundry. We didn't have anything planned for the day and were just hanging out as a family, enjoying the relaxing day. We ate lunch in the living room, and as I went to get up from the loveseat I felt something funny. Then I realized...my water had broken! I said to Jay, "Um, my water just broke?" and he jumped up, running upstairs to change (and get me a towel). Once I felt like I could safely head upstairs it dawned on me that I wasn't yet having contractions. To me, this meant I had plenty of time so I decided to take a shower and get myself "ready". Jay was a little surprised at my calm, but I knew we had plenty of time.

I showered, blow dryed my hair, finished packing our bags and the like while Jay got himself, Oscar and Hayden ready for a night away from home. Hayden was super excited to be going to my brother's, as was Oscar. We stayed pretty calm so we wouldn't scare him, but all the while I kept thinking "I cannot believe this is happening". Once I was finally ready we headed over to Eric's. I called my OB's office to figure out who the doc on call was and as luck should have it, it was my least favorite doctor. Figures. We dropped off the little guys and headed to Women's Hospital to get all checked in, a process I had made a little faster by pre-registering when I found out I was pregnant. The nurses did a few things, and walked me down the hall to labor & delivery.

We got settled in and found out I was only dilated to 3 cm. Nurses kept coming in and asking the same questions, I had monitors on me and an IV and was just sort of hanging out for a long time. We watched Duke lose to Florida State, and shortly after I asked for the doc to check me so I could make my decision on the epidural. He came in and found that while I was fully dilated, our Lila Bean was still fully breech, and informed me that they just don't deliver breech babies naturally anymore. Lots of stress on the mother and the baby, so we would need a c-section. As I had never even read that chapter in my baby books, I told the doc to get comfortable as I had questions.

He and the nurses walked me through the procedure, and everything started to happen really fast. I had a hairnet and Jay had a too-small gown, I was signing things while being wheeled down the hall, and then they took me into the operating room. Jay had to wait outside a bit while they prepped me. My anesthesiologist came in, talked me through the spinal block and all of a sudden I was laying down, losing feeling from the chest down and trying not to worry. Jay came in, and really wanted to watch the whole surgery but the nurses wouldn't let him. Bogus! I literally could not feel a thing, but then heard the nurse say, "Ok dad, I see a butt...stand up." He stood up, I heard a strong cry and felt the most enormous sense of relief. She was okay! In uncharacteristic fashion, I started to cry like a baby. It wasn't long before I got to see her in Jay's arms and she was just beautiful, with a head full of dark hair. My water broke at 1:30pm, we got to the hospital at 3:30pm, she was born at 8:21pm. Another quick delivery!

Jay watched as they cleaned and measured while I got stitched up and wheeled to recovery. I hung out there for about an hour and they brought my sweet baby to visit. At three weeks early she was a healthy 7 lbs, 8 oz and 20 inches. She looked so much like Hayden, and I couldn't wait for them to meet. I fell in love with my little girl immediately, this little eager beaver who just couldn't wait til her due date to meet us!