So, I'm a little late on this one...Eiley Grace was born on June 1st at 3:23 in the morning. Here's the story:
We found out we were expecting in October. I had a really healthy pregnancy with no morning sickness or other ailments. My doctor thought I had Gestational Diabetes, but other than failing the test, I had no other symptoms. My sugar counts were good, I wasn't putting on too much weight, and my baby wasn't measuring huge :). My only complaint would be not being able to sleep on my back--so, I guess that counts as a good pregnancy!My maternity leave officially started on June 1st. Anthony, being the planner that he is, was determined that this baby was going to cooperate and come on my first day, as to maximize the maternity leave. (If there was no baby, I should be working, right?) But, he was starting to become somewhat disappointed when I felt absolutely nothing all weekend and nothing was happening on Sunday--no contractions, no pains, no nothing. So, we had Mexican for our Sunday lunch and went on a long walk (4.5 miles) to see if we could get things going....nothing.
That night, I took a shower and shaved my legs (first clue that this baby was coming, since I don't do this often :). We decided to watch a movie around 10:00ish. I watched the whole movie (second clue, since I NEVER stay awake for a whole movie). During the movie, I thought I might be having contractions, but figured since they didn't hurt, they might not be real. After the movie, around midnight, I told Anthony that I thought we might be having a baby in the next couple of days. At this time, I'm relying on all of my readings and the doctor saying that first pregnancy labors last longer and you can have contractions for days; so, don't get excited and jump the gun by heading to the hospital right away.
We decided to time these "weird feelings" and found that they were anywhere from 7-10 minutes apart. Again, nothing to get excited about, since they don't hurt and are random. Well, around 2:00 they became pretty intense. But, they were still pretty random, anywhere from 3-7 minutes apart. So we decided to pack and get things around, but decided we'd stay at home until they were consistently 3-4 minutes apart. (This whole time, I'm thinking I don't want to go to the hospital and have them send us home.)
Around 2:51, we decided that we better head to the hospital, because I'm scaring Anthony with how intense the contractions are becoming. We arrived at the emergency room at 3:00--thanks to Anthony failing to yield to red lights. God was watching over us, as we met very few cars :)
The emergency room lady comments that I'm walking well (flash back to a nurse telling me that if you can walk into labor and delivery, they'll probably send you home) and tells Anthony that we can walk on up to the 3rd floor. Uh, no! So, I asked for a wheelchair and was taken up to labor and delivery on wheels.
The first questions from the nurses upon arrival: "how far apart are the contractions?" (3-7 minutes) and "is this your first pregnancy?" (yes). Again, they're thinking, "first pregnancy, this is going to be a while, she doesn't know what's going on...". They asked me to go ahead and change, give them a urine sample, step on the scale, sign these papers, they'll start an IV, yada, yada, yada. So, being the diligent patient that I am, I start to follow these requests, but feel an urge to push. Anthony and I are the only ones in the room at this time, so I just yell out to the nurses' station that I need to push. They tell me not to push (the Dr's not here yet) and help me into the bed.
Flash forward to 3:23, and a quiet baby girl is born, sans doctor. She overwhelmed her mommy physically and her daddy emotionally. (Anthony had to take a seat during all of this). She was a healthy 7.1 pounds and 20 1/4 inches long. Our lives were blessed and changed forever!
