The day our lives would change forever

       And that brings us to March 1st 2011, the day our lives changed forever. Well, actually it all started on February 28th. The 28th was a normal  Monday, and although it was only two days or so before my due date I felt as though it was going to be weeks before Attia was ready to make her debut. I worked from home before my last appointment, and then at 3:00 I went in to see what the doctor's news would be - how much longer? After telling the doctor, "that I didn't feel like there was going to be any change soon," I got up onto the table so that she could measure my huge belly, and... my water broke.  Good timing!

       Dr. M sent me straight down to the delivery wing, and I sent Austin a text (after trying to call him) to let him know that I had some big news. He was on the way to an eye appointment, but when he got my text he turned around and ran home to finish packing our hospital bag and meet me up there.  I'll admit I freaked out a little. Everything was fine, but this was not how it was supposed to happen! I was supposed to go into labor at home, wait for 5-1-1 (contractions 5 minutes apart, 1 minute each, for at least 1 hour) and then we would drive to the hospital together. I had arrived alone, and I was not having any contractions. 

       After I got checked in and Austin arrived we walked the halls and waited, then walked the halls, and waited some more. We tried the whirlpool, etc., and after what seemed forever, at 11:00 p.m.things started to move much more quickly.  That's when I started to really be able to feel the contractions. 

       I was able to get a few minutes of sleep between contractions until about 1:00 a.m., but at that point I had to get up and move around and try some of the techniques we had learned at our birthing class (all of which really helped.) By 3:00 or 3:30 a.m. it was pretty intense and I started to wonder if I would be able to make it much longer without an epidural, but I tried laying down and immediately felt much better. And surprise-  I had a strong urge to push, but the on-call doctor was still on her way to the hospital, so I had to try to wait until she got there. Which was hard. After what seemed like forever (again) the doctor finally arrived and four pushes later Attia was here! At 4:27 a.m. and she was a healthy little girl at 6lbs 15oz and 19.5".  Amazing!

And she was perfect in every way.

       After an hour or so she got to go take her first bath (with daddy's help) and I moved down to the recovery room, which was very nice (as was the delivery room). We had several nice visits from family and friends - even some from St. Louis!

 

We had time to snuggle with our itty bitty little baby and start to soak it all in. We were able to rest some at the hospital, before heading home for next exciting chapter in all THREE of our lives.

What a wonderful day.