The Low Down

On November 19 at 10:30 pm I was waiting around to go see the midnight premier of New Moon with my sister. Luckily I didn't make it to the theater because of all days, that was the day that Darin forgot his phone at work. I got up to go to the bathroom and felt a little rush of liquid come out. I didn't think I had pee'd my pants but I wasn't sure and it has happened before. I took another step and felt a huge rush of liquid down my legs. I turned to Darin and said "I think my water just broke." I was laughing and he was running around the house like a nut trying to pack our bag for the hospital. (You think I'd have had that ready already). I couldn't do much because the fluid just kept coming. Diesel knew something was up and was whining and running around.

We finally got everything and made our way to the hospital. We got there around 11:05. We got into our room at 11:20 and they hooked me up to the heart monitors and checked to make sure she was head down which she was. My contractions were getting closer together and more painful. I was dilated to a 4. At 12:20 the Dr came in to give me my epidural and I was dilated to a 5. Once I had that I was feeling pretty good and was able to relax. At 1:00 our nurse came in to check me again and I was dilated to a 6 almost 7 and they said her head was still down and just a little bit longer. At 2 am I was trying to get some rest before I would have to start pushing. The nurse came back at 2:40 and checked me. SURPRISE! Just a little more than 3 hours after getting into our room I was completely dilated to a 10 and ready to start pushing. But she needed to check one more time to be sure she was head down and it's a good thing she did because our little girl was breech and backwards. All the checks they had done prior to that they thought they were feeling her head when really it was her little bum the whole time.

I asked the nurse what that meant for me and she said "C Section and right now". I was really scared and crying. Everything was just happening so fast. They finished up the final preparations and wheeled me into the operating room. At 3 am they started the surgery. Luckily my Dr was on call that night and was able to do the procedure. By 3:10 Darin was telling me that he could see her bum and legs and then her arms and head. They took her to the weighing station to be cleaned and weighed. I couldn't see her because they were still putting me back together and the drape was up. But Darin said she was so beautiful and we were both crying.

After what seemed like an eternity I was finally able to see her and I just cried and cried. You hear people say that you'll never love anything more than when you see your baby for the first time, but you honestly don't even know until you're going through it. Just thinking of it makes me cry. She was the most perfect little thing I had ever seen.

After 3 days in the hospital we're home now and adjusting to life with a baby. It's so wonderful and scary and completely unreal. Although I probably wouldn't have elected for a C Section ahead of time, it really went well. I can't complain about giving birth only 5 hours after my water broke. Our lives have changed as we know it, but I wouldn't want it any other way. She's the most perfect little angel we could have asked for.