Our Newest Baby Girl!!!

Our little girl’s birth was absolutely wonderful. I woke up on Friday, June 29, 2007, at 6:00 am and thought that I was going to have a baby by the end of the day. Andy had a big day at work, so I didn’t tell him that I was having some contractions. They were easy to work through and by 8:00 am, Addison and I were out the door for my 8:30 doctor’s appointment. At the appointment, I was already dialated to a 2 / 80% effaced and she told me that I probably wouldn’t make it through the weekend without a baby. I thought to myself, I don’t think I’ll make it through the day, but we’ll see. Addison and I drove home and stopped at Sonic drivethru for a big cup of ice and some breakfast. For those of you that don’t know, I’ve had Ice Pica for the past few months. Pica is when you crave non-food items such as ice. It is extremely common in anemic pregnant women, and let me tell you, Andy is really ready for me to stop crunching while we’re watching tv at night! I’ve been telling him that craving ice is much better than craving ice cream or pickles, but he doesn’t seem to get it. :)

Anyways, the pain was starting to get pretty bad, so I also called Mom and asked if she could come down to pick up Addison. I called Andy and told him what was going on, but that he didn’t need to come back from work yet, he just needed to answer his phone if I called again. By 10:00 the contractions were getting pretty bad and were 5 minutes apart and by 10:30 I asked Andy to come home to help get us ready to go to the hospital. Andy was such a trooper!!! He got the bags ready, folded the last of the laundry and put it away, timed my contractions and rubbed my back all at the same time.

We made it to the hospital by about 1:00. They already had NINE babies delivered that morning and I actually had to stop walking to breathe through a contraction right in front of the nursery window. Talk about getting quick service after that! Immediately, we were surrounded by three nurses who took us to a room to get me checked. I was progressing nicely, not in too much pain and dialated to a 4. They offered an epidural, which I graciously accepted, and they moved me to the labor and delivery room. Things slowed down a bit after that and I got stuck at about an 8 for an hour or two. By 6:30 or so my epidural wore off and I asked for something to top off the pain. The medicine man showed up, but I think he forgot to bring his magic. The epidural did not work from then on. At 7:30, literally SCREAMING through the contractions that were one on top of another, I thought I was ready to push. The nurse (an amazing woman named Darlene) informed me that I was only at a 9. I kept praying that the epidural would kick in again, but no such luck. I SCREAMED through another 40 minutes of extremely intense contractions before telling Andy to go get someone, I’m starting to push. At 8:10 I pushed through two contractions and our little girls head came out. I pushed one more time and she was born at 8:20 pm. They immediately handed her to me to hold and Andy and I were just overjoyed. Her apgars were 9/9 and she is completely healthy. Andy told me that when she came out, she was bluer than blue, which scared him a little, but she made the cutest noises right away (not screaming like her momma) so I knew she was perfectly fine.

All is well and we are still deciding on a name. Check back tomorrow for pictures and information about how Addison handled being introduced to her baby sister. Love to all!

Kerry