September 14, 2010 we welcomed our little girl into the world and will forever be a special date in our lives! Let me back up a few days prior and give a little history of how we got there....
Friday September 10th I had my weekly doctors appointment and at the end of the appointment the doctor said "You aren't dilated yet so we'll see you next week." I responded with "Ok are we sure? The other doctor thought I would go early" she said with a smile on her face "We'll see you next week." So we went home and got ready for a dinner with friends. Chris and Nicky drove up from Vero to have dinner with us so we took them to a Mexican restaurant in downtown Melbourne. Andrew works with Chris at Kimley-Horn. It was so great to see them and to have visitors from Vero come to Melbourne :)
September 10th is also a very special date because 11 years ago Andrew and I started dating :) Who would have thought 11 years ago we would be posting this blog about us becoming parents! We were just 16 and dating in high school and look at us now :)
The weekend was a pretty slow weekend for us. For some reason I just wanted to be lazy, I think it was my body telling me to take advantage of the free time because it was soon to be over! Of course we watched the Gator game with good friends Pam and Eric but other than that I really did nothing that weekend I felt like such a bum around the house. I napped, watched TV and had no worries! Sunday night things were going to change!
Late Sunday night I started to have a few contractions. I had some the week before but it didn't stay but a day and these ones were different. They weren't really consistent but they were there. Late in the night about 2am Monday morning they started to wake me up, which we all know is hard to do. About 5am I thought to myself maybe I should start timing them. Andrew was getting up for work and I stayed up and watched TV. By the time he left I mentioned I had been having contractions during the night and they were around 10 minutes apart. I knew I could be at 10 for hours or days so we went about our day as usual. Andrew said to call and keep him updated during the day. I got myself ready and went into work. I wasn't going to make it a big deal to everyone because I didn't know if it was going to go anywhere anytime soon so I was quite :) I was staying to myself in my office trying to get things done just in case :) I was keeping track on my computer and all the way up to lunch I was 10 mins. After lunch I went closer to 15 mins so I thought maybe they were going away. I told Nicky that we needed to get those maternity pictures done tonight just in case. During those pictures at the park we were getting back to 10 mins even some at 8.
After the pictures we all went home. Nicky and I decided we were going to go for a walk after she put the boys down for bed so we could get things moving along and more consistent! After one day at 10 mins I knew I couldn't do it for days so I needed to do something :) After our walk I showered and ate dinner by this time it was closer to 11 at night and I was consistent at 7 minutes. 30 minutes after dinner my water broke!!!
Andrew called the doctor and the one on call was the same one I had seen at my last appointment. She asked when was the last time I had been seen and how far dilated was I. Andrew responded with you saw her last Friday and she was at zero. She then said are you sure her water broke? Apparently it's common for first time moms to think it broke when it really hasn't! I was 100% sure it broke! She said to go to the hospital and she would see us there. Even the nurses at the hospital asked are you sure your water broke as I was gripping the counter top trying to give them information and having to stop during a contraction. I'm not sure they believed us until they checked me :)
I was admitted around 12:30 and I was around 2-3 cm dilated. I did do the epidural and loved it; I don't know how people don't :) I was 5-6 cm at 6:30 and the shift change was at 7 and that's when the next doctor on call decided to give me some meds to help the process. It was around 7 by the time I got the meds which was the very smallest dose and that's all it took to get things going. I have record in my phone from when Andrew was texting everyone that I was 9 cm at 7:20. I forgot to mention the entire family was at the hospital and some had to leave for work and some left around 645-7 to go take care of the dogs thinking I was going to be some time. Well they all got a call saying it's happening shortly after they left!
They brought in all the carts and had me start pushing at 8 and at 8:46 am Isabella was born! It all is a blur to me things just went so fast. I had a great doctor and team of nurses that were so supportive and helpful! I had my wonderful husband by my side coaching and taking care of me (we all know hospitals are not Andrew's favorite place but he was amazing). We had our moms in the room during the delivery and they were wonderful support for the both of us! I don't know how things should have gone but I do know I thought it all went great. I couldn't have asked for a better/easier delivery! We have a healthy beautiful little girl!!!
We had a hospital room full of visitors THANK YOU everyone for coming out to see us and keep us occupied while I was held up in the hospital room :) I know you all really came to see her but I still think you partly came to see me :) THANK YOU for all the beautiful flowers, balloons, candies and books! They gave us a cart to leave the hospital and the entire top was flowers!
Thank you everyone for all your kind wishes! We tried to keep everyone informed during the process but as you can imagine we had a lot going on and it wasn't easy so we apologize if we haven't kept in the best of touch or updated.
We have been home now for just over a month and it's hard to believe it's been that long. I feel great and to be honest I really haven't felt bad. She so far has been good at night, I hear she could be worse so I am very thankful! She has been 4 hour feedings at night and closer to 3 during the day. The first couple weeks she thought 11-2am was her time to be awake and I think we might have broken that (knock on wood). Andrew took the first week off work, Bella and I are doing good during the day just missing daddy also trying to go back to work part-time. There are a lot of things to do on top of adjusting to life as parents. Andrew used to come home from work and would come find me wherever I was around the house and give me a kiss, now he still comes and finds us but he has two he gives kisses to! It is so sweet to see his face light up from a long day at work when he sees his little girl I can't even describe it.
It didn't hit me right away but it did about three weeks ago, I'm a mom and loving every minute of it!
(I can't promise the next posts are ever going to be this long :) )
