My Beautiful Girl: Baby Mary Elizabeth Arrives...

I was ready for my maternity leave!!

I am going to start on the Friday before Mary Elizabeth was born because I think those events set everything in motion. People had been telling me for days that I needed to do this and that to start my labor, but I really didn't try those things because I felt like they were just a way to make pregnant women feel like they have control in a situation that they are completely powerless over. My mom swears that she went into labor with me after having to walk miles home from work. So Friday I had this awesome lesson plan where my students had to do a scavenger hunt all over school to show that they understood poetry. Because I'm not a deadbeat teacher I walked around and supervised them as best I could. This means I walked (and shouted/gave scary teacher looks) ALL DAY LONG. I even thought, "hmm... I wonder if this might put me in labor?" That night Jason's friend Josh came over to do some projects with Jason. We walked downtown to dinner and back. Lots of walking... and at 3am my water broke. Ta-da.

Unfortunately, I didn't know my water broke. It happened right when I sat up to go to the bathroom, so I assumed I wet my pants. I even went into the bathroom and still had to go! I just thought, "gee-- that's embarrassing. I hope Jason doesn't notice that I'm changing our sheets and figure out what happened." Yeah... so then I kept wetting my pants- all day. Imagine that? Silly me didn't think anything of it. I went ahead and called the doctor that night after my mom basically was calling every 30 minutes saying, "Are you SURE you don't want to call and just check?" So I did... and she said it was probably me peeing my pants and to come in first thing Monday unless I feel a "gush" before then. (sorry if thats gross). So I went all weekend thinking I'd lost bladder control and dodging the nail gun and other tools that were ALL OVER MY HOUSE-- it was a mess.

Mommy was ready to POP!

Sunday night I started feeling crampy. I had been having braxton hicks contractions for the last month and I usually got cramps at night, so I didn't get my hopes up. Just in case, though, I decided I should clean up. I did not get any kind of burst of energy and it was the least amount of fun I've ever had cleaning (probably because I wet my pants every time I bent over). When Jas got home the house was nearly clean. He helped me finish things up and then we watched a little TV. I told him I thought I might be having some contractions but nothing too regular. I could feel his excitement even though he was trying to stay calm and not get his hopes up. So, we went to bed and he cuddled up to me and tried not to say "was that a contraction?" every time my breathing changed.

Monday morning I woke up at 5 am and knew that I was having contractions. They were 15 minutes apart- I timed them with my iPhone- and pretty regular. I woke up and went into the living room to watch tv and just hang out under a blankie. By 6 Jason was awake and asked why I was up and out of bed. He was so excited when I told him- I'm having contractions and we might have a baby today! (or in 3 days... like a friend of ours.) So he made me eggs for energy, took a "prebaby picture" and played his guitar for us. Then we watched some I Love Lucy while we waited for our doctor appointment at 9:00. On our way to the doctor I realized I forgot some paperwork I needed to have signed, so Jason decided to drop me off so I could get the appointment started and then he could run home and meet me at the office.

My bag was packed... but still
at home!!

Skip ahead... and my midwife gave me the news: "Your water broke. You're going to the hospital. Now. Rita, did you hear me? Do you understand?" (Apparently I was a bit dumbfounded). My response-- "wait! Do I have time to call my husband?" So I called Jason and said "turn around- grab our bags- we're going to the hospital now." Things flew by from here. I remember thinking how adorable it was that Jason called and texted and seemed completely flustered because he is never flustered. By the time he arrived to pick me up, though, he was completely calm and collected. So we drove to the hospital and checked in.

Our nurse was one of my former students' mom. She was so sweet but completely flighty. It took three tries to start my IV, one of which she forgot a pretty important piece to her kit and I started bleeding everywhere because there was a needle in my arm but no connector piece to keep it from shooting out. Really reassuring.

Daddy holding you RIGHT when you
cameout... he earned it!!

They gave me pitocin to speed up my labor because my water had broken so much earlier and they didn't want to risk infection. Everyone kept letting me know I could have my epidural at any time, but I told them I really wanted to try my best without it. I had imagined using a birthing ball and doing all the positions and letting Jason massage my back ... blah blah. Basically my entire labor was me lying on my side, holding jason's hand, staring at a sunburst shaped screw in the side of the bed and trying to breathe through each contraction and not say swear words in front of my mom. Once my contractions were about a minute and a half apart I started puking. My sweet husband who can't even stand to think about throw-up held the bags (yes, that's plural. gross) as I did so. It wasn't pretty, but it helped me progress pretty quickly. I did have a dose of Nubane (I don't know if that is how its spelled) to help me relax between contractions so that I could last until pushing time.

I finally get to meet my sweet girl!!

At about 4:30 my midwife arrived and sat down on the edge of the bed and said, "lets push!" Two hours later... out came my little ladybug! I was so afraid of the actual birth, but it actually felt relieving after the labor. Jason cut the cord and we both fell in love with our little angel.

Taking a nursing break from the
glow of the blue lights

Mary Elizabeth was jaundiced and had to be under the blue lights for 24 hours. That might have been harder than my labor. To watch my sweet girl cry and shiver under those lights and not be able to take her out to comfort her was miserable. She had to have blood taken every 12 hours and we ended up staying an extra night and two full days at the hospital. We were THRILLED when we were approved to head home late Thursday. We came home, watched Karla on The Voice, and cuddled our sweet girl.