bekah and grandma waiting
papa and caleb passing the time
aunt connie and kaitlin
more of the crew waiting - grammie, catherine, eric, tanya and aunt kristen
me after delivery...that sprite tasted good!!
proud and exhausted mommy and daddy
caroline a few minutes old...breathing was hard
mommy holding caroline for the first time
i know how you feel
our new family
one last look before they took her away
we were a little tired
sisters are the best!
grandma and caroline...sweet
proud grandma and grammie
ready to head home
aunt connie and uncle david...aunt and uncle for the first timei've never written caroline's birth story down and since i'm in a birthing state of mind, here goes. by the way, nothing happening today so far that i can tell on that front. caroline was due april 8, 2004, which also happens to be john's b'day. much like this time, i began to dilate and efface about 3 weeks before her due date. also like this time, caroline was very low just sitting there ready to come out. since she was the first, the dr kept saying i was going to go early, that my body was getting ready and i would most likely have this baby before the due date. like so many other things we now know, she was oh so very wrong. she actually kept encouraging me to be induced as she was going to be out of town off and on leading up to april 8. i was not comfortable with being induced for several reasons. #1, i'd never done this before so why not give my body the chance to do it the old fashioned way. #2, they'd already said the baby would be on the small side so why not give it more time to cook and fatten up. so, i held out and the days kept going by. eventually, we went ahead and scheduled an induction for the morning of april 15. my last day of work was tue, april 13. i figured i'd use the 14th to get some last minute stuff done and our families would be headed in to spend the night in preparation for the induction.
wed, april 14 i had a leisurely morning and then decided to return a bunch of stuff to target that afternoon. i remember walking around feeling lots of pressure and actually having to stop several times in the midst of shopping. this feeling continued to get stronger and i headed home. i ended up needing to lay on the couch b/c it got so uncomfortable...stupid me, i didn't even think about contractions. probably b/c they weren't incredibly painful like i imagined they would be. john got home from work around 5pm or so and then we got a phone call from my parents a little later that they would be getting in town in the next 45 minutes. john's parents were not far behind them. so, around 5:45pm i got up to go to the potty and went, but the pee never stopped coming. i realized my water had broken and lucky me, in the potty :) didn't even ruin my couch or rug. john called the dr and she said to get our stuff together and she'd meet us at the hospital in the next hour. we called our parents who were now only minutes away and told them we were headed to the hospital. my parents made it to our house before we left and helped us get our stuff in the car and followed us to the hospital.
i walked myself into the hospital and to the admitting area, feeling more intense pain with each step. it was so calm and laidback, it made me laugh. oh, you're in labor, okay well sit down and sign these papers and we'll get you going. they took me to another room to see how much i was progressing. this is where i remember feeling pain and thinking an epidural was sounding good. they checked me and i was somewhere around 5-6cm if i remember correctly. it was about 7pm at this point. in the meantime, john's parents got to the hospital and john's brother dave and family were burning up I-75 making it to macon in record time. my sister and her family also made it and she was such a welcome sight for me. i remember feeling so relieved when she walked in the room with her big smile and tear eyes b/c i wasn't sure she would make it since she had an almost 3 yr old sarah and 6 week old luke...what a blessing!
my nurse kim had just come on shift and would be there until 7am so i was relieved knowing she would be there the whole time. she was WONDERFUL!!!! definitely one of God's greatest blessings to me in the whole process. she was perfect for me...laidback, easygoing, friendly, funny and we just clicked. she was a small person with a big personality. she had cute blond, short hair and a south ga accent. she loved that we didn't know what we were having. she basically spent the entire time with me and made me feel so secure. time went by and i did my best to endure the contractions, but the pain intensified and i asked for an epidural. i could still kick myself for not being able to hang in there and make it to the end. however, now knowing the stress my body was under with the addison's disease i didn't know i had, it was meant to be. twice my blood pressure plummeted. the first time the top number was in the low 40s and i suddenly couldn't see or hear anything. it was like total blackness all around and scary!! i remember saying to john and kim, "i can't see or hear y'all, that can't be good". kim gave me something in my iv which shouldn't have worked, but my gracious Lord protected me and brought my bp back up. it happened again a little later and again, the Lord brought it back up. a little stat for you, the mortality rate for women who go through labor and delivery with undiagnosed addison's disease is not good....around 40%.
i progressed fairly fast and around 11:30pm, they checked me and kim said i was ready to go. i couldn't believe it. it seemed to be going too fast and i was having trouble taking it all in. kim kept saying she thought this baby would come out before midnight and be an april 14. silly girl, don't give me that kind of hope. on push for 30 minutes??? well, she was wrong, but that's okay. i started pushing close to midnight and caroline was born at 12:52am with no crying. scaring her mommy to death. i remember not knowing right away if she was a girl or boy b/c they were concerned about her breathing and called in the respiratory team. a minute later, the dr said it's a girl and our nurse kim yelled. "oh, it's a sweet caroline" as she cried. yes, our nurse cried...how sweet is that??? i was shell shocked and worried about her breathing, but so shocked she was a girl. it turns out she had her first bowel movement on the way out and couldn't breath well at first. they ended up letting us hold for a few seconds a take a couple of pixs and then she was gone to be monitored in the level 2 nicu. i didn't even realize what she looked like, which is funny in hindsight b/c it was apparently like me. she ended up weighing 6lbs 7oz and was 18.5 inches long.
our families finally got to come in only to have no baby to see or hold...what a disappointment for me. mind you, they'd been waiting and it was now somewhere between 1 and 2am i think. we held up her footprints and i spoiled the plan of john telling what it was by saying "she's got some long feet". everyone was excited and also pretty shocked it was a girl. i believe my mom was the only one who predicted girl towards the end of my pregnancy.
daddy has another girl to love
my sweet hubby gave me a beautiful new robe
caroline opening her gift bag from susanna
sisters
"she's so beautiful, mommy!"
loving on susanna
proud grandma and grandad
proud papa and grammie
lots of sister pictures
cousin rebekah
cousin caleb
how sweet is she?
our new family...so thankful!!
my wonderful friend mandi
one of a million kisses today
uncle david
our sweet baby girl...oh susanna!
we're off and ready to go!
all hooked up
yes, i'm crazy...what else should i be doing?
bekah and grandma waiting
papa and caleb passing the time
aunt connie and kaitlin
more of the crew waiting - grammie, catherine, eric, tanya and aunt kristen
me after delivery...that sprite tasted good!!
proud and exhausted mommy and daddy
caroline a few minutes old...breathing was hard
mommy holding caroline for the first time
i know how you feel
our new family
one last look before they took her away
we were a little tired
sisters are the best!
grandma and caroline...sweet
proud grandma and grammie
ready to head home
aunt connie and uncle david...aunt and uncle for the first time
