Sunday morning Mario and I woke up and went to church to hear such a great message on stewardship. It really spoke to me knowing that we were about to have this little baby and how God is the creator and owner over this sweet girl and we are to be great stewards.The question that I left with was ? Do I ultimately see everything I have as Gods? One day all stewards will answer....What have I or am I doing with the things God has loaned to me? Such great questions to really think about, especially when you ask that question about another human being. I'm so thankful that God has chosen and has entrusted us with this girl.
After church we stopped and got subway and headed home to just relax, get some last minute things together (aka my suitcase), and to enjoy the last few hours with just the two of us. We ended up watching Spy Game and hanging out with Abbie and Wade. At 7 pm I took the dogs to Midlothian for a little stay and picked up our friends ipad (they generously let us use it while at the hospital so we could facetime with Mario's parents), and then headed back to pick up daddy! We loaded the car and made our way to Mansfield Medical Center! It was such an exciting drive knowing that the next time we would be in the car, it would be three of us! We swung by Whataburger to pick up some dinner for Mario. I wasn't hungry at the time but I regretted that decision later ;). At 8:00 we arrived at the hospital and checked in. I couldn't believe that it was really happening. They walked us to our room (room 8) and advised me to put on this super cool gown and told me the nurse would be in shortly to ask us some questions and to get the process started!!!! EEEK!
Melissa walked into the room and introduced herself as my night shift nurse and started asking the billion and one questions. While she was doing this another nurse named Kathy came in and started my IV. I hate the amount of tape they put on your arm bc you know that when you go to take it off it's going to HURT!! After the IV and questions, they inserted this little pill inside me. She told me that I had to lay flat for 30 minutes and then I could eat after an hour. I was already starving so Mario saved me one of his chicken fingers. Remind you I had not eaten anything since lunch. She told me to eat as much as I wanted to because after midnight I couldn't have anyting. She also told me to get some sleep because every four hours she would be coming in to insert this pill. I was thinking this whole time that they would do this throughout the night and then start the pitocin first thing in the morning but she said the pitocin wouldn 't start until 1 pm the next day. WHAT? I thought I would have a baby by then but now they're saying the inducing meds wern't coming until later! So I called my family to let them know that they probably wouldn't want to come super early in the morning bc it was going to be a long day! After she left we turned on the TV and Mario ventured out to find a vending machine. When he returned it was about the time that I could eat. I ate the chicken and something else from the vending machine and then laid down to sleep. A couple of hours later I was still up! I called Melissa and asked her for some sleeping meds :) which did the trick quickly! The only thing I really remember after that point was her coming back at 4 am to insert a pill and then at 7:00 am my new nurse introducing herself (Margie). Dr. Morehead also came in sometime and debriefed us and told us that he thought Annalise would be here sometime that night. They brought in some breakfast and when I say breakfast, this is what I'm talking about!
Yes a Popsicle, chicken broth (which I didn't touch), and some jello. Mario went down and got some cafeteria food!
At 7:45 my water broke. Yes this happened on its own! I stood up to use the bathroom and realized I had a trail. What? I didn't even know my water had broken! I thought for sure I would feel it but I did not. I told Mario to call the nurse that my water had broken. She confirmed this! So this meant that we could start the pitocin meds early!!! They came and changed the IV bag and very shortly after the contractions started coming. They felt like really strong cramps but nothing I couldn't handle. I told Mario that I wanted to watch last weeks episode of the Bachelorette to take my mind off the pain.
Half way through the show the contractions were a lot stronger. So strong that I couldn't concentrate on my show! I turned it off and decided to rest....impossible! I remember a pain management nurse coming in and asked if there was anything she could do. I told her that I really wanted an epidural but that I was only dilated to a one and that I wanted to hold off bc I did not want a c-section and since my water broke I was crunched with time. She asked if I wanted to get up and sit on the birthing ball which I did. This helped for a little bit. While on the birthing ball my granny and papa came in! This helped take my mind off the pain for a little bit. Mario was also a HUGE help. He would push on my lower back during the contractions which helped a lot!
Also during this time, my mom, momma donna and best friend Tiffany showed up! I got to visit them during the breaks but by this time my contractions were 1.5 minutes apart so our conversations were broken up! I remember talking and then bam they would start up again and I would say "not again"! I probably said this 50 times because every time I would have to lay my head down on the bed and I would concentrate my way through each contraction. Finally my nurse came in and asked how things were going. She obviously knew I was in pain and said that if I wanted to have the epidural she thought it would be okay. So I said SIGN ME UP!
The anesthesiologist came in and we signed the papers and talked through the process. Everyone always says the epidural is pain free but I felt the numbing meds they inserted first. Honestly the whole thing was strange! I told him that I didn't want much meds, I still wanted to be able to move my legs. He did a great job. I could no longer feel the contractions but I could still move my legs (like jello). After this everyone came back in the room. This time my mom, dad, stepmom, and sister had arrived. They said hello and then went back in the waiting room so I could rest. I remember at one point I started feeling the contractions coming back pretty strong so I asked Mario to give my button a push to release more meds. It was NOT working. I called the anesthesiologist and said that we had pushed the button but it wasn't working. He told me that I had to wait a good 15-30 minutes. After 30 minutes they were getting worse!!! He came back in and I said it's not working so he told me to push the button one more time and to push it every 10 minutes so I did. When I pushed it I heard this beep that I didn't hear when Mario pushed it. As you can imagine I was NOT happy, he didn't push it hard enough so that whole time I wasn't getting anything! So now I had to wait another 15 minutes for it to kick in. During this time Tiffany decided to show me pics of her trip to Europe. Look at my face :)
At 5:00 Dr. Morehead came to check on me and told me that I was still only a ONE....I was thinking to myself there is no way I'm a one when I hurt so bad and could feel the contractions with the epidural. He said he'd be back in an hour to check me again and to see if anything had happened. At 6:15 the doctor came back in and I went from a 1 to a 9. He told me that there was this ligament that was in the way keeping them from really being able to check me...so who knows what I had really been dilated at all day ;) He told the nurse to prep the room. It all happened so fast I was in disbelief! The NICU unit came down and the surgical tech came in to assist the dr. if needed so needless to say, we had a FULL room!
The nurse had me do a few practice pushes and when the doc was ready I started pushing. I think it took 5 contractions that I had to push through and she was out! Born at 7:02 pm. Weighing 5 lbs 13 oz, 20 inches long. Here are her first few pictures!
Annalise we love you!
