Unforgettable

10 months ago I gave birth to my daughter, which just seems like yesterday. I'll be planning her birthday party soon, so if you know me in "real life" be on the look out for your invitation.

Her estimated date of arrival was September 6th but she didn't actually join us until 6 days later. They tried inducing labor on August 29th with no success. They gave me the OD of pitocin to no avail. My body was not going to cooperate with me or anyone for that matter. After many tears of failure and frustration I went home to re-group. By that Friday my contractions began and I timed them for a while before I call my Ob. I wake her up in the middle of the night and she tells me since my contractions are 5 minutes apart she will call the hospital and advise them I am on my way. Whoa was I nervous.... So I check in and basically get violated by the entire maternity ward for them to tell me to pack it up and go home. "Try taking a warm bath..." Again I head home disappointed.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday with the high risk doctor because my doctor wants to determine my daughter's weight and would make a decision whether to schedule an eviction. Keep in mind I'm still having contractions about 5 minutes apart. Monday morning I lose the "gunk"and I actually make it to my appointment in all shades of discomfort and ready to plead my case on how the leech needed to be evicted before whatever sanity remained was lost. Much to my surprise the high risk doctor scared the living bejeeezus out of me. I had apparently lost all of my fluid (trust me I never felt a gush or even a slight trickle), and there was what appeared to be a possible enlarged heart. The tears are flowing down my face. I'm thinking to myself, all this time she was fine and now after I baked her I find out something could be wrong. The high risk doc calls my doc and tells her the baby has to come out TODAY.

My mom drives me to the hospital and I call Art to let him know that I'm on my way to the hospital because I needed an emergency c-section. How he understood my blubbering is beyond me. We get to the garage to park and can't find a damn spot. We make our way down to the exit and my mother explains my plight and they "make a space" for her to park. They called for a wheel chair but after waiting 5 minutes I can't take it anymore and decide to walk or should I say waddle?

I some how manage to check in and a nurse walks me to my room and I'm quite upset so being the cool nurse she was, actually calmed me down. Art makes it in time to help out when epidural man shows up. I'd say around noon I was trembling horribly with the epidural which I didn't mind because it beat feeling the contractions. Mind you I didn't even experience the "full blown" contractions so I guess I squeaked outta that one. I get wheeled down the hall and placed into the operating room. Art is only allowed to go in through the first set of doors. They didn't let him join me until they had finished "prepping me". What felt like forever was probably 5 - 6 minutes for them to put me in the "J.C.P". He sits down right next to me and holds my hand.

The anesthesiologist was testing to make sure the meds were on target. Apparently the doctor was poking me with a needle to verify I was numb. I was, didn't feel a thing. They are walking me through each step as they gut me. Didn't take but 15 minutes to cut her out! I felt some pressure and that was pretty much it. I heard no crying baby, only the doctors talking about the movies. WTH?

They rushed her to the level 2 nursery where they proceed to hook her up to an oxygen hood because she wasn't able to breathe properly on her own. Meanwhile back at the ranch I spend the next hour getting my guts stuffed back in my body. I was taken to recovery (alone) and checked every 5 minutes to make sure I don't kick the bucket. The pediatric cardiologist came by to let me know everything seemed to be in good shape so far. She also let me know that my little one had the cord wrapped around her neck 3 times!!!! I freaked out but they told me her vitals were normal and there didn't appear to be any concerns. They monitor me for about an hour and I finally get wheeled back to my room.

Back in the room we wait on pins and needles to find out the status of my little human. Finally around 4 Art can take no more and goes to hunt down a nurse. What seemed like aeons he finally returns with my camera to show me her first picture! She was all hooked up to monitors and I saw the little oxygen hood. She was soooooooooooo cute. Methodist only allows parents wearing bracelets in to view the baby. One guest is allowed when accompanied by a parent. So my mom is first in line. She comes back to give me a full report. Guess what? I'm so jacked up I can't even go to visit my daughter. I have to lie in bed so the staples don't pop out. This sucked. All my friends and family got to meet her first.

I never knew you could fall so deeply in love with someone so quickly. Now that's a cool feeling..