How Sweet It Is: Happy Birthday Pumpkin!

Well, I can still hardly believe it. Our little Pumpkin is here. She was born on October 22 - just 5 days before her due date. After all these months of dreaming about what she would look like, what she would be like, all of it - we finally know. We finally have a little one to hold in our arms - to stare at and see who she looks like on that day - to see how she is already changing in a short time. What a blessing children are. Yes, I am completely sleep deprived (still having a hard time sleeping during the day - don't worry I'll figure it out!) and we are just moving through the day as best we can, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I love this child - I love watching Nate be a daddy to her and I love being her momma.

Leaving the hospital - we were in a hurry because they were there with the wheelchair and we wanted to go. I guess I could have taken the blanket off!

She sure wanted to make her debut known though - her birth story is quite the story - or at least it is in my book. So without further debut - here it is!

Thursday, October 20
5:30 pm - Heading into Sonic to get myself a Pumpkin Pie shake - I feel my first contraction.
5:45 pm - Stop by 5 Guys for dinner (I didn't not know at this point this would be my last meal for almost 40 hours). Still having contractions, but nothing to time, and they weren't too bad.
6:00 pm - 12:00 am - Eat dinner and watch a little TV while having contractions - at this point I begin timing them and they are getting closer together. Go to bed to try to get some rest and get a little bit. Contractions start coming closer together and get more uncomfortable (little did I know - these were nothing).

Friday, October 21
1:00 am - Shower in case we go
2:00 am - Contractions are seeming to be what they are supposed to be - decide to head to the hospital
2:30 am - Hospital check in slows down contractions. Only at 2 cm - they won't usually admit you until you are at 4. They kept me for a couple of hours.
5:00 am - "We are sorry B - we are going to have to send you home - not sure when you will be back, just look for everything to get stronger. Lay down and rest." We head home dejected and ready to go to sleep
5:30 am - Sleep a little bit, contractions wake me up by 7:00.
7:00 am - let Nate sleep, time contractions and watch TV. Contractions start to intensify - pretty uncomfortable and getting stronger.
9:00 am - Wake up Nate - contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting at least 1 minute and had been happening for over 1 hour.
10:00 am - Decide to leave for the hospital - Round 2
10:30 am - Contractions strong - check into hospital AGAIN and find out I'm still at 2 cm
2:30 pm - "We are sorry B - we are going to send you home. The doc won't let us admit you. You will be more comfortable at home. Come back again when you think you are in active labor." This time, I leave in tears and in pain with all the nurses wanting me to be able to stay.
3:00-5:30 pm - No rest, nothing makes contractions better or slow down. Getting much closer together and more intense. Can't even go for a walk or distract myself but we didn't want to go back and get turned away.
5:30 pm - Finally decide to go back and I went in with resolve looking at every nurse telling them - I'm not going home - I don't care what you have to do, but I'm not leaving again. I just want to be out of pain.

Enter Nurse Nancy - my favorite nurse in the world and will forever be. She promised me she would convince the doc to let me stay and sure enough - she worked it out for me.
7:00 pm - Wonderful Nurse Nancy gives me some Demerol since I'm still in triage they can't give me my long awaited epidural yet. Demerol works ok, you still feel contractions, but you care a lot less.
9:00 pm - The most wonderful words were shared with me - congratulations - you are close enough to a 4 - we are admitting you and will be giving you an epidural soon. I almost cried I was so excited!!!

9:30 pm - 29 HOURS after my first contraction I have RELIEF!!!!!!!!! From here on out - I don't consider any of it labor. Whoever invented the epidural is the most wonderful person in the world. The best thing about this one was that it was 9:30 at night. They turned the lights down and Nate and slept until 6:00 the next morning.

I'm finally one happy momma. My happy button is in the bottom left of the screen. Just pushing it and releasing the meds made me happy.

The epidural moved things along pretty quickly - or my 29 hours of previous labor finally caught up! I was ready to have this baby by 11:00. After only 30 minutes of pushing - our bundle of joy was here. I guess that was my gift for the hard labor in the beginning.

The joy of hearing her first cry, holding her for the first time, finally seeing this little being that God has been creating for the last 9 months cannot even be described. We are so thankful that she is here and we are so thankful that she is a healthy little girl.

Thank you Lord - what a gift you have blessed us with and we pray that you would continue to guide us as we raise her.

Enjoy some pictures below and I will share more when I can!