So, I drove myself not realizing exactly how intense the pain was until I was in the car. I decided to call my best friend, Stephanie, she kept me occupied until I made it to my mother's in the Fort. Finally we made it to the hospital. My favorite nurse Jennifer was working the desk as a charge nurse so she took me back to the observation room. As she went to put the heart monitor on my belly I began to have a really hard contraction. Jennifer had to use her hand to monitor its strength and length since I didn't have the contraction monitor on yet. She decided to go ahead and check my cervix (no fun) and I was dilated to 2 and phasing. Dr. Laws was on his way. Jennifer said she was pretty sure Laws had decided to go ahead and take the baby. I made the call to my husband that it was time. At this point Jennifer walks in with 2 liters of IV fluid and told me the baby's heartrate was high and not fluctuating with the contractions as it should and hopefully the fluid would help. It didn't. My husband is running lights and sirens from Vian, OK. Laws came in and checked me again and told me he couldn't wait, we were going now. "What about my husband?" Laws said there was no time to wait. (I have no idea how I stayed calm, by the Grace of God) Jennifer made it a point to scrub in, which in her case was unusual because she is the charge nurse. Side note: Jennifer is special to me because she was there when I went into labor with my son at 29 weeks, she was the one to put me on the helicopter. Anastesia in place and not working I was flipped upside down to help. Right as Dr. Laws began to cut my husband made it. The section went well, but was the longest time ever. I remember Laws saying, "I have one leg, here is the other...." then nothing. What about the rest of her? She was stuck. Wrapped around the other side of my uterus. Timing is critical, she is taking on fluid. Two nurses literally sitting on my chest trying to push her out. 2:33 pm she is born. I listen for the cry... I'm searching the faces of the medical staff and my husband... Then I hear it, my baby girl's cry. She is okay. Thank you Jesus. Dr. DeMiranda even brought her around to me and let me kiss her. Off to the NICU for routine monitoring. That is when they discovered that she had taken of fluid during the section. She would need to be put on oxygen and heavy antiobiotic. Dr. Coloso, the Neonatologist came to see me and said that he was confident she would be fine, it was just going to take some time. After 24 hours she was off oxygen. And in 5 days with no drama, we got to bring her home.

Learning to Blog

Needing something to do on sleepless nights I thought I would give blogging a chance. Never done this before. Being off and having a new baby will allow time to learn this trade. (Hmm. Can I get paid for this?)

We welcomed Meredith Grace to our family on January 4th. She came only 5 weeks early after I nearly didn't go to Labor and Delivery. It all started (being my second child, I should know labor...right?) Saturday. My husband was off and we were enjoying a family day with our 3 1/2 year old Bryston. We cleaned, took Christmas stuff down, and played games. At about 5 oclock on that Saturday the 3rd my back was really beginning to bother me. But I had been piddling around the house all day doing laundry and straightening things. I took the muscle relaxers the doctor prescribed and to no avail the pain in my back strengthened. But I was determined not to let it get in my way. So, I layed down just for a bit while my husband cooked a wonderful taco meal for us. I ate and then told my husband that it was time for me to shower. After my shower I took an ambien (another prescription from my first run in with early labor before Christmas). My husband being the astute person he is said " I don't think I should go to work tomorrow honey, I'll call and have someone cover my 24 hour shift" "No" I said. I'll be fine, I can handle it. Little did I know the pain would continue and by morning work it's way across the front of my abdomen making it nearly impossible to stand, let alone walk. Morning comes and I send Jason to Vian, Ok to work a 24 hour shift driving an ambulance for Pafford. To help me out my wonderful husband arranged for Bryston's Emmy and Papa to come and get him for the day. Once he was off to have fun with his grandparents I called the doctor, as the pain had not subsided.

Thankfully, my doctor, Dr. Laws was the one on call. I told him that I thought I was in labor and I wouldn't mind to just stay home, I wasn't really interested in being in the hospital for five days again. He said that at 35 weeks he didn't want me to labor very much alone. Ultimately the decision was up to me, but he asked that I come in so he can check me and he promised if all was good then he wouldn't keep me there. He asked me to find someone to drive me and come to the hospital. Well, Ididn't have anyone to drive me,