A short story

This story shouldn't take too long to tell.  It certainly didn't take long in real time.

Wednesday night we all went to church and I was having a little bit of back pain.  I told Dallas that it might be the night we meet our girl.  We came home and hung out chatting on the couch for a bit and finally gave up on her and went to bed around 11:00.

At 3:00 am I woke up thinking I had felt a pain.  I looked at the clock so I could keep track, and three minutes later I felt another.  I went to the bathroom to check and see if my water had broken and saw nothing alarming.  More pain.  I woke Dallas, he called a neighbor and his mom to come watch the boys, I called my doctor, and off we went to the hospital.  My contractions were 1 min 40 seconds apart
when we got there, and getting closer each time.  It was pouring rain and we ran several red lights on the way.

Our nurse, I don't remember her name, got us into a room and gown super fast.  I let her know how fast Rhett came (2-1/2 hours after labor started), so she checked me right away.  I was a solid 8.  She quickly called for additional nurses to help with setup.  I was asking for the anesthesiologist for my epidural and they were really trying hard to get my labs and everything to approve it.  When my doctor got there, minutes later, he checked me and said I was just about there.  He left to change clothes, and when he was gone there was a lot of screaming and pain.  I never screamed with my boys.  The epidural really takes away so much of the pain and pressure.  My Doctor came back and I screamed that I needed to push...among other things.  He just said, "well, we are all here, go ahead".  Honestly I thought I needed to go to the bathroom.  The pressure was unbelievable.  At one point I looked down at my legs and they were just shaking uncontrollably.  I remember thinking that I couldn't do it.  I begged Dallas for the drug doctor.  He lied and told me he was on his way:).  All of the sudden while I was pushing Dallas just said, "look, there she is".  I had no clue that she had come out.  That one push did the trick.  It was so hard, but so wonderful all at the same time.  It was 4:17 am.  I had her 32 minutes after we arrived at the hospital.  1 hour and 17 minutes after labor started.  It's a darn good thing she came at night, when Dallas was here to get me to the hospital.  Otherwise my fear of having her in the car would have been a reality.  The doctor put her on my stomach and I reached out to touch her.  She wrapped her little hand around my finger and my heart melted.  She was just so perfect.  She nursed right away and did so great.  Then, the three of us got to hang out for a few hours until our room opened up.  Dallas said, "Well, it's settled...she can have whatever she wants."  :)

This was such a different delivery from my boys.  Dallas felt it too.  Apparently my screaming really gets to him.  He got pretty queazy and felt like he was going to pass out.  He cut the umbilical cord on both of the boys, but declined this time as he had to b-line it to the bathroom.  He did great though, and I'm so thankful for his calming influence on me.  He is so good to help me breath and let me squeeze his hands off.

Not having an epidural wasn't really my idea, I would have taken it at any point, but in the end I'm so glad it worked out the way it did.  Hattie was so alert and responsive right away.  She never really seemed drowsy or different than she is now.  I was able to get up almost immediately and go to the bathroom.  It was wonderful.  Also, the nurses don't have to check on you so often and keep track of so many things.  There is no catheter to deal with.  It was better on the back end of things for sure.

Also, another fun note...our friend Leann was there.  She is a labor and delivery nurse and she just happened to be there that night.  Her husband and Dallas played college ball together and our boys play football and baseball together now.  It was so nice to have her there and know that she was taking care of us behind and on the scene.  She made sure we didn't get stuck in the overflow room after delivery!  She is so sweet and wonderful and worked so hard trying to get me my epidural:).

Nana brought the boys up to see her before school and Rhett was so excited.  She said he was jumping up and down in bed when he heard she was here.  Jude stood back and observed that first visit, but came back after school (upon his request) very excited to see and hold her.  He was a little discouraged that her hair wasn't blonde, but he got over that pretty quickly.  Most people say she looks like him, so
he likes that.

Welcome to this world sweet baby girl!  We will do our best to take the very best care of you and love every second we have with you.  You are a blessing, and we are so in love with you!  

-mommy and daddy