The Day That Changed My Life Forever...

My husband and I walked out of the doctors office on November 29th beaming with joy. Our baby was healthy, with a strong heartbeat, and was head down, ready to make her debut anytime in the following 4 weeks or so. We had spent the last month preparing for a c-section due to her being breech, so finding out she had turned around was such a relief for us! We could finally relax and let nature take its course. As soon as we got in the car to drive home, the braxton hicks contractions began, and they continued on and off, sometimes regular, sometimes not, for the next five days. Those five days were spent like any other day. I worked, hung out with family, spent time with my husband, all the while feeling like my baby was going to take her sweet time, and would probably show up fashionably late (like mother, like daughter.)

I went to sleep on Tuesday, December 4th, thinking about the work I had to do the next day and the last minute Christmas shopping I still needed to finish. Little did I know it was the last night of my life as I knew it. 

I woke up at 1:45am on December 5th with what felt like very strong menstrual cramps. I kept telling myself that this wasn't happening. This isn't a contraction. It's normal pain. This can't happen yet. Ten minutes later it started again. No. Not yet. I'm not ready! Another ten minutes, and then another...I will admit, I panicked a bit. I decided to take a hot shower because I read somewhere that if it was false labor, a hot shower or bath would usually stop the contractions. Thirty minutes in the shower, and these contractions weren't going anywhere. This was it. I began to walk aimlessly around the house as I tried to wrap my head around the thought of becoming a mother (because nine months wasn't long enough for that to happen!) I held my doctors business card in one hand, my phone in the other, still slightly in denial and hesitant to call. It was about 3 am at this point, and the contractions were getting closer together. I finally got the courage to call, and the on call nurse told me the doctor would call back in thirty minutes and if he didn't, I should call again. At this point, I figured I should probably wake Eric (my husband) up and let him know what was going on. I shook his shoulder and quietly said "Babe, I'm going into labor." I may as well have screamed it at the top of my lungs because he jolted out of bed with a "What?! Seriously?!" I told him we still had time, and we didn't need to leave right away, but he got up and started getting everything ready to go anyways. I still hadn't heard from the doctor and it had been over thirty minutes, so I called back and the nurse said she would try again. It was 4 am now, contractions were five minutes apart, and I couldn't talk, walk, or even think through them. There was no way I was waiting for the doctor to call back. We needed to leave NOW! Good thing my husband was so proactive! I felt like things went from zero to sixty extremely fast! I called my mom to tell her we were headed to the hospital, took care of some stuff for our pets, then went out to the car. 

My husband gets in the car and turns the key, and they key breaks off in the ignition!! Great...just what we need! Thankfully, I was calm enough to figure out how to get the key out, and we had a spare key so it worked out! We get to the hospital around 5 am, and I find out I'm at 4 cm. It had been my plan to do a natural unmedicated childbirth but at this point, I couldn't stand the pain! Epidural, please!!! That pain was no joke! You never really understand just how painful it's going to be until you're actually going through it. Now I know why everyone laughed at me when I said I wasn't going to use pain medication! For those out there who have done it, you are some strong mamas!!! As soon as I got the epidural, my heart rate dropped and I got extremely dizzy. They gave me some other medicine to bring my heart rate back up and all I could think of was "Great, this is exactly what I didn't want...a bunch of medical interventions." I was really nervous about what was happening, but as soon as my heart rate came back up, I felt amazing and was so thankful that I couldn't feel the contractions that were coming at least every two minutes at that point!

I felt like time was flying. I had the chance to visit with family and relax a little bit. It was actually very nice! I never thought I would say that about labor. When 11 am rolled around, it was time to push. All of a sudden everything got very real, and I'm pretty sure from that point forward I was just a ball of tears! Due to the baby being posterior, or "sunny side up," it took about three hours for her to arrive, and even when she did, it was by a vacuum assisted birth. I remember hearing the doctor mention c-section a few times while pushing and I'm thankful he did,  because it just made me work that much harder to avoid the surgery and get my daughter out as fast as possible!

Finally at 2:11pm, Aria was born. They placed her on my chest and all I can remember is crying, and feeling the most amazing love I've ever felt in my whole entire life. It was the most beautiful moment. I didn't know what else was going on in the room. There were about ten people in there at that point and I didn't see a single one of them. It was just me, Eric, and my beautiful baby girl.

This was the day that changed our lives forever. I feel like I wasn't even living until this moment. I thank God every day for this precious gift of life that He has entrusted to me. I love my daughter Aria more than words can describe, and I can't wait to see what life has in store for us!