Looking back...May 19 (2008)

It's hard to believe that this little sweetie was making her way into the world exactly one year ago today.

After spending a whole weekend on modified bed rest, I made sure that everything was packed for the hospital, just in case.; because I just had a feeling that Dr. Childs (appropriate name, huh?) was going to go ahead and induce me! My mom and sister came with me for the appointment and I TOLD them to pack overnight bags...but they didn't listen!

Sure enough, my blood pressure was like 150-something over 100! No protein in my pee-pee cup, but they were still worried about pre-eclampsia if my blood pressure stayed high. So, my doctor did an "exam" (not fun!) and told me I was already 4 centimeters dilated (um, woo hoo?)

Dr. Childs said "I think we need to have this baby today."

So I had 2 options....I could drive 45 minutes back to see my pre-k class graduate that afternoon, then drive back to Chattanooga and they would induce me OR he told me I could go over to the hospital NOW and be induced.

Hmmm... I really wanted to see my kids graduate, but gas was almost $4 a gallon at this point, and I was already there and already had all my stuff packed...so I told him, "I think I'll just go to the hospital now." He called over and "reserved" me a nice, big, LDR room and said, "I'll be over after while to break your water." He sounded so nonchalant, like he does this everyday, but then I remembered, he DOES do this everyday...I was the one that didn't know what I was getting into!

It was about 10:30 am, so I called Jason at work and said "um, I think you need to come to the hospital." He was like, "WHAT?!" I told him I was fine, and that he didn't have to come right now, it's not like I was going to have the baby before he got there...but that he should just leave when he could. Ha!

My mom, my sister and I drove over to the hospital and I walked up to the desk and said "I"m here to have a baby" and then I started laughing. She said, do you need a wheelchair or can you walk? It was hysterical, and not at all the way I had imagined...I said "no, I can walk, I'm going to be induced." I got checked in and settled and changed into my stylish hospital gown. :)

Unfortunately, in my excitement, I forgot the MOST IMPORTANT RULE about having a baby....you should ALWAYS have something to eat before going to the hospital! Because once you put on that lovely hospital gown, THEY WON'T FEED YOU!

Ok, they gave me 1 cup of jello and 1 Popsicle. However, pregnant women NEED food and I hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, so that means I was going on 12 hours with nothing to eat. I was NOT a happy girl! (and even though I had packed some granola bars in my bag, JASON wouldn't let me eat one...I remind him of this often!)

Anyway, I figured that I would be having Lauren in no time....in my mind, my doctor would come over on his lunch break and break my water, and Lauren would be born later that evening.

Ha!

Hahahahahhahaha!!

The rest of that afternoon, the sweet-as-pie nurses (who would not feed me) gave me pitocin through my i.v. and kept "upping" it, because apparently I should be in more pain than I was in. I was actually feeling pretty good. I was listening to my ipod, watching Food Network and having contractions.

Then they REALLY "upped" the pitocin and I was having some really strong contractions and it wasn't really fun any more.

Sometime around 4pm I got an epidural (ah, sweet relief) and then Dr. Childs showed up to break my water around 5:30. I was apparently 5-6 centimeters at that point and he said he'd be back later to check on me.

Fastforward about 4 hours....

The in-laws had arrived at the hospital, I was about to throw my sweet husband and the video camera out the window if he didn't quit filming me in my shamu-like state, and when I was "checked" again, I apparently had not "progressed" too much more.

So Dr. Childs started saying a bad word....C-Section.

I didn't like that.

He told me that I could wait it out, try to see what happened, but that it wasn't likely that I would progress if I hadn't in the past 4 hours. He told me that it was my decision and that it wasn't as big of a deal as what I was thinking and that they were so common now and I'd be back on my feet in a few days.

So I freaked out and I started to cry. I called my dad and stepmom (they are nurses) and I called my friend Beth, (who had an emergency C-Section with her 2nd baby just 5 weeks earlier) and they all told me that a C-Section would be ok.

But I didn't want to have one.

And since my baby was not in any danger, my nurse told me if I wanted to "wait it out" through the night, than I could and she would stay with me and support me. :) I liked her.

So I told Dr. Childs that I wanted to wait. He went home to get a few hours of sleep and was going to come back sometime around 3am-ish.

So, stay tuned to see what happened on May 20th..... :)

**I realize that these posts are SUPER LONG but I want to document this for Lauren to have one day, so this is kind of like a journal for me....feel free to not read and more if your eyes are starting to bleed! :)****