I think my water broke...

I think it’s time to fast forward 9 months. While a lot of women claim that they loved being pregnant… pregnancy was not really my idea of fun. At being 5’0 and just over 100 pounds… turning into Santa Clause proved to be a new challenge while I tried to keep up with our normal hectic life here in the city. Needless to say……. I’m happy that through all the aches and pains of pregnancy… ..we have produced a beautiful and healthy little girl.

It was December 29, 2011. My mom had just come in town a few days before and I was anxiously waiting for something to happen. Everyone… including the doctor… had told me that I would begin feeling contractions at some point and I needed to time them to know when I should go to the hospital. Mike and I were more than prepared… we had taken a child birth class and knew all of the things we were supposed to do once those contractions hit. On this particular night I felt nothing. Getting a bit discouraged and hoping that I would begin to feel something soon, I asked my mom and Mike if they wanted to go for a walk. My mom had said that she was going to pass because the previous night I had forced all of us to endure a 6 mile adventure to the yogurt store…. Except we didn’t actually make it to the yogurt before we turned around. Mike and I took off for a quick walk. On our way back we were about 4 houses down from ours when I felt what I thought was my water breaking. It actually scared me and I said… “I think my water broke.” Of course Mike was shocked asking me what it felt like, was I sure, etc. You would think that there is no way someone would not know their water broke…. But when something like this happens it’s really amazing how you can be so unsure. As the doctor had instructed… I made the decision to wait to see if the labor kicked in.

The next morning I was in the hospital. My water had indeed broken and they began to induce labor. I had brought in a beautiful birth plan… exactly what they tell you to do in birthing class. Perfect right? Wrong. Pretty much everything in my birth plan could not be used. While I will save you from the next 15 hours of my life (quite frankly because I am trying to forget them!)……. Maddie was eventually born via C Section at 1:34 am on Dec. 31^st. We spent the next four days in the hospital…… and while they were counting down for new years on the TV… we were staring at our little girl in disbelief and discussing pain medications!

You all know Dave Lewis. Of course as soon as he heard I was in labor he was on a flight. While he made it to the hospital… what he did forget was his belt. Some people would go to the store and get a new belt before coming to the hospital, but my dad did not see that as necessary when there was a dog leash hanging by our door that could do the trick perfectly. Yes folks…. My father wore a dog lease as a belt to the hospital. Surprised? Probably not.  

Maddie was 7 pounds 5 oz and 18 ½ inches long (although at her first pediatrician’s visit they told us she was 19 ½).…. she was 4 days early. You have so much adrenaline running through you at this point… there isn’t a way to describe it. I was so out of it….. on pain medications and exhausted... but yet I vividly remember one thing I felt shortly after I awoke from being put to sleep. The nurses were telling me all sorts of things to do with Maddie… some of which I agreed with and some of which I wasn’t sure. I remember shaking my head yes, etc… and then all of a sudden there was this overwhelming feeling of protection…. “this is my baby. We made her….. she is ours… we make the final say.” It was the best feeling in the world. From that moment on that protection feeling  (almost animalistic) has just gotten stronger.

Maddie was known as the princess of the nursery. Every day the nurses came in to take pictures of her outfits. We would wheel her around in the hospital on walks… we were so proud of the special gift we had made together and couldn’t wait to show the world!

Week one at our house was a blur. Thank god my mom was here. I couldn’t do much physically. We had to move ourselves into our guestroom because our bed was too high for me to get in. Maddie’s bassinet was moved into there as well and I still had to set up the monitor because I couldn’t lift myself up quick enough to see if she was ok. I think we stared at her all night…. We didn’t get any sleep and I’m not sure if it was actually because she was up or we just needed to stare at her J.  Basically I think the first week is about adapting and surviving… and that is exactly what we were doing.