Ok, so now that Hailey is 6 weeks old, I figured it's time to write down her birth story. This is one of those posts that is more for my own record keeping than for your enjoyment. It might be a little boring to ready, but to me, it is one of the most precious memories of my life! Ok, let's see...
I had about 2 or 3 weeks before my due date and felt pretty confident that I had even longer than that because I was sure I'd go late like I did with Savannah. However, I suddenly realized that it COULD happen anytime, so I rushed and had a very busy week getting the house clean and all of us packed and ready "just in case". Once most of the things on my "to do" list were done, I calmed down and decided to enjoy the last two weeks of pregnancy.
On Wednesday night (Jan. 20) I went to bed around 11:30pm and woke up around midnight feeling like I was going in to labor (9 days before my due date). I laid in bed timing contractions for about an hour and a half and then woke up Cole to tell him I thought it might be time. He sat up, ready to go, but I told him to go back to bed, just in case it wasn't the real thing- I didn't want him to miss a whole nights sleep and my contractions were still pretty mild and irregular.
There was no way I could sleep, so I got up, finished folding some laundry, swept the floors, and then called my mom around 3:30 to tell her it MIGHT be time. She got on the road right away, even though I told her she might want to wait. I then called the doctor and he said there was no way to tell me how long to wait, but that he should probably see me. I was a little frustrated with how short he was with me on the phone, so I decided to take a shower and get ready and around 5am I decided to lie back down in bed and try to sleep, because I really didn't want to have to wake up Savannah in the middle of the night and drop her off tired and cranky to my friend Allie. Around 6:00, I woke up Cole again and said, "ok, get a shower and through your stuff in a bag and then we'll wake up Sav and get her to Allie's, because it's really starting to get painful!"
After all that was done, it was 7am. We dropped off Savannah at Allie's house and then started the drive to the hospital. So far, so good.... until we hit traffic on Capital Blvd. The contractions were getting stronger and we were in stop and go traffic for an hour! I was so thankful to finally be pulling up to the hospital around 8:15, but still scared they would send me home- I was in way to much pain to walk back out of there, but you never know what the doctors will say!
I made it to the waiting room, and Cole went to go park the car. I was so ready to finally sit down and let things begin, when my phone rang. It was the nurse from my OB's office telling me that I should NOT be at the hospital, I should be in their office! WHAT?!? I didn't know if I'd make it here in time for an epidural, now you want me to come to your office? She pretty much made me feel like I was ridiculous for going to the hospital when I was in labor instead of her office, so I agreed to get wheeled down to the OB's office to get checked there. The nurse said that that was great, but the doctors were all in a meeting and wouldn't be able to see me for another hour! So I told her to forget it, I was staying right where I was! I hung up the phone and burst in to tears- not the way I wanted to begin the whole experience. Emotions already going crazy, it took me about 15 minutes to calm down. Poor Cole returned from parking the car to find me in the middle of my breakdown! The delivery room nurse kindly checked me in, I was at 6cm, so I was officially on my way to having a baby! Yay! I could finally take a breath!
My mom arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes after we did- good thing she left when she did. After that, things happened pretty quickly. I got my epidural (after several attempts to get it in the right place- OUCH!), and then things were lovely :) I was at 8cm when the doctor came to check me. She broke my water and within a minute I was ready to push! Three contractions later, Hailey was born!
She had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and again around her shoulders, but the doctor fixed this so quickly, I didn't have time to get scared. She was 7lbs. 2oz. and 20.5 in. long. She had lots of dark blonde hair (not as much or as dark as Savannah's was).
We called my sister on our way to the hospital, so she could try to make the drive up. She rushed around to make plans for someone to keep her girls, jumped in the car, and hadn't even made it to Charlotte when Hailey was born. It only took about 4 hours after I got admitted into the hospital. Everything else went smoothly and recovery has been SO much better the second time around. I hope this post didn't make my labor and delivery sound miserable, because even though it had it's frustations and painful moments, it was still such an amazing experience! There is nothing like bringing a baby in to the world and I feel so blessed to have been able to do it twice! God is so good and I have absolutely loved everything about being a mommy to my two girls- the pregnancies, deliveries, and every day since then!
I put off planning Savi's 2nd birthday party, because I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to get ready for with a newborn in the house. Little did I know, God would send us such an easy going baby, we could have planned a full party! Instead we threw together a very last minute celebration. A few sweet friends came out for birthday cake while the Lotts were in town and joined us for pizza and an impromptu celebration. Cole's parents will be in town this weekend for more birthday fun and the weekend after that, my family will be coming up to celebrate again. So, here are some photos of the "birthday season kickoff"!
The kids decorated the cake with sprinkles before we lit the candles for Savannah. Here's a photo of Sav with "the gang"... (Brody, Graham, Sav, Jonah, and Kate)
The birthday girl enjoying her cake. Who says digging into your cake is only for one year olds?
"I think I'm gonna like this birthday stuff..."
