12 Months!

ONE WHOLE YEAR OLD TODAY!!!

Happy Birthday to Leda!

A year ago today, Leda entered our lives. She became real - a tangible after 9 months of wondering what was going on in there!

I was scheduled to be induced a year ago today. We were trying to force Leda out so that Brock could be here for her birth, as One Lap was to start at the end of the week. We'd been trying to get into the hospital since the previous Wednesday, but weren't having much luck! They were too busy and elective inducements were low on the priority list! We heard stories of a woman who went in to be induced and was taken off the drugs and sent home, they were so busy!

So, Sunday, the 24th, we went to bed wondering if when we called the hospital the next morning at 7am if they would tell us they couldn't take us then, that we would have to reschedule for Tuesday. I wasn't nervous...not like I thought I would be. I was pretty calm, as calm as a 6 day over due pregnant woman would be when realizing her husband will have to leave in 4 days, baby or no! As it had become normal in my last two months of pregnancy, I was up around 2:30 or 3 am because I couldn't sleep. I read my book for a little while and fell asleep on the couch. Around 5 am, I woke up with a little cramping. It was what I had been experiencing over the past couple of weeks, so I really didn't worry too much. I had another "baxton hicks" around 5:30 or so, and then another one within 10 minutes. Then another. Then another. Then I woke up Brock around 6 because I wasn't sure I could keep time correctly! I was pretty sure by that time that it wasn't braxton hicks, it was Leda...no one was gonna force her out!

We called the hospital at 7, after we had called our Doc W., who told us to call the hospital and tell them we were coming in, regardless! We woke my mother up and told her we were heading into the hospital, I took a shower, we packed up the car and off we went.

When we got to the hospital, I was about 3-4 cm dialated. The nurse told us we could get the epidural then or I could walk a little and try to progress the labor. I wasn't to uncomfortable with the contractions - nothing like I had feared or I had heard of from other mothers - that we decided to walk a bit. We made laps around the maternity ward for about an hour and then my mother got there, and they checked me again. I don't remember if I had dialated after the first walk, but we decided to keep going for a little while. The contractions were becoming a bit more intense - not so much hurtful but tiring! So I would say it was about 11:30 or 12 when I requested the epidural, because I wasn't walking no more!

I remember wishing really horrible things about my anesthesiologist at first. He joked that this was his first epidural, then he talked cars with my husband. I was a bit nervous about the epidural...HATE NEEDLES...so having a guy joke with me while I was completely serious was a bit unnerving! But it took no time at all and I didn't feel a thing, so I was in love with him in short order! ;-)

The next several hours were pretty uneventful. I think it was around 5 pm when Doc W. and the nurse said we were ready to push...of course, Brock wasn't in the room at that moment - off smoking a cigarette and making some calls. So we had to wait a few minutes for him to get back.

Pushing was lots of work. I got pretty tired out and by the end, just wasn't sure I was gonna make it! I don't remember it hurting so much as it was exhausting! Doc W. helped extract Leda with the vacuum...three tries and she was out. 6:55pm, we had a 9 lb, 3 oz bundle of joy. And we had NO idea how wonderful it was going to be.

The last 12 months have been amazing.

A year ago today...
4/25/2005

Today, one year later, in her Daddy's arms...
Leda in her Daddy's Arms

She's our perfect gift. And today, we celebrate the first of many, many years to come.
Birthday Girl!

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