Before I forget...

I actually have a minute so before I foret, I mine as well write down the story :)

As you all know I was contracting like crazy for a week or so. Friday and Saturday were extremely painful. They stopped Saturday afternoon in time for Hubby's surprise party (30th!!!). Sunday I noticed my right leg was super swollen--yuck! I mean SUPER swollen! We ended up going to the ER before church. Not for me. Hahaha! Hubby dislocated his toe playing basketball during his diversion from the surprise party... :) So anyways, Sunday around 2am could sleep because contractions kept waking me up...but only one every hour or so. However, they hurt like @#$#%$%$%^%&^&^*!!!! So, around 4am they started every 10 min. I finally said a prayer. I told Heavenly Father that either the baby need to come today or the contractions needed to stop for the 3 weeks til her due date. They got worse.

At 5:30 I told hubby to be prepared...just in case. At 6:45 he came down stairs and said I was waking up the entire house with my stomping ( I stomp my feet REALLY hard when I'm in pain!). He informed me we were heading to the hospital. They were still only about 7 min apart and I started crying. 1/2 because of pain and 1/2 because I just knew they'd send me home and I was frustrated about that potential...especially because the pain was SEvERE!

We packed the kids in the car ( I didn't want to call anyone because I figured it be a wasted since we'd just get sent home). Got to the hospital around 7:15am. I checked into the ER and guess what...NO contractions... So...I did the next best thing...PRETENDED! Yes. it's true. I sat in that wheelchair and pretended to have one...just so the ER admissions lady didn't think I was faking.

Got to the New Life Center and still no contractions. I was worried. However, the minute the nurse walked in I had a HUGE one that sent me through the roof. YAY!!! but OUCH!!!! anyways, she checked me and who'd have thought...I was nearly a 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This freaked me out, b/c we've noticed a trend...it takes a long time for me to hit a 6 but then baby comes within 2 hours. Anyways, because of my dialation, contractions or not, I was NOT leaving :)

We called a friend who came and grabbed the kids while I VERY WILLINGLY got my epidural (didn't with the last...BIG mistake! Especially since this baby was sunny side up too....OUCH!).

Epidural was great. For a minute. Then, it completely screwed me up. I nearly passed out a few times and was nauseaus and not handling it very well. Finally got everything figured out after an hour or so and the dr decided I was okay to have my water broken. Then, it happened again... nearly passing out...etc. So, not pitocin to speed things up.

At 10:39 The nurse checked me and I was maybe a 7-8. We all wondered what was going on since I usually go quick after hitting 6. Anyways, I started getting worried because my dr would be leaving at 11:30 and I really wanted him to do the delivery....

About 5 minutes later I told her I thought the baby had left my ribs (FINALLY!!!) so she check again. Yep, baby was READY! WAHOOO!!!

Dr. came in, they set everything up. I never felt one stinking thing! The epiduaral was actually TOO strong...but that was by far the EASIEST delievery ever! I pushed for 5-10 minutes MAYBE and she was out!

The nurse had "warned" us that she would be small- maybe 6lbs. She looked small...until the wieghed her. 8lbs 6oz! HOLY crap!!! SOOO glad she was 3 weeks early! There's no way on earth I could have carried her longer! No wonder I was so miserable for the last few weeks!

Since there was too much epidural, I couldn't stand until around 10pm and even that was super shaky. I had an annoying night nurse.. finally called and had her switched when she showed up the next day (another story...).

Baby was perfect! A little jaundice (to be expected). Nurses like a champ. A wonderful addition. Sweets loves her so much. All the kids do, but I we were most concerned about Sweets. Love her love her love her! So grateful she made it here safely. I feel great. Crampy and sore abs...but really no pain per se. Grateful and oh so Happy!