Anyway, here's the full story on my birthday: Mommy, Daddy, and Neil all treated Monday as a regular day. Little did they know! Mommy and Daddy went to work and Neil went to school. Around 4:30, Mommy and Daddy went for their usual walk around the block and then came home and Daddy started making dinner. Big Bro Neil had to be picked up from chorus practice around 7:00pm. They got home about 7:15pm and Daddy took dinner out of the oven. Just before they sat down to eat, Mommy said that her water broke. I won't give all of the minor details here, but it wasn't a big mess like those shows on TV. Everyone seemed to be pretty calm about it and Mommy called the doctor and we all waited for him to call back.
Mommy and Daddy started packing the "to-go" bag. Now most Moms and Dads probably pack their bags several months before they even had to consider going to the hospital. Not my Mommy and Daddy! They got everything picked out and packed and were ready to go in about 15 minutes. Mommy made a few phone calls while waiting for the doctor to call back. Daddy was relaxing(that's what he calls it) on the patio. Big Bro Neil was probably the most nervous of everyone! So to calm himself down, Neil did what Neil likes to do. He sat down in front of the TV and watched "Wayne's World!"
The doctor called back and said to, "Come on Down. You're the next contestant on 'Let's have a Baby!" Actually he didn't say that because his sense of humor is pretty dry, but he did say that he was at the hospital already, and to come in and get checked out.
We loaded up the car, and got to the hospital about 8:25pm. Everyone was still pretty calm. Mommy was having some contractions, but nothing real bad. The nurses hooked Mommy up to a monitor and let her listen to my heart beat. The monitor showed that my heartbeat was good and strong, and that Mommy was having contractions, but while they were strong, mildly painful, and frequent, they were still irregularly spaced.
The doctor showed up around 9:00pm and said that we still had a few more hours till I was born and that they would probably end up inducing Mommy's labor around 4:00am and that he thought I would be born around 7:00am. He told Mommy to just hang in there and he would be back later in the morning.
At this point, Big Bro Neil is starting to get a tad touchy because he hasn't eaten anything for several hours and the hospital cafe closed at 6:00pm. He is starting to get bored sitting around waiting, so Daddy takes him to Papa's house which is just down the street. Of course, they have to stop to get Neil some food because, "Papa never has anything good to eat!"
Daddy got back around 11:30pm and the contractions were getting stronger and stronger. Mommy has a pretty high pain tolerance, so if she is complaining about pain, you know that it is hurting. (I tried to give her some baby kissing from the inside, but they didn't help as much as I hoped!) Mommy asked the nurse for some pain medication and that seemed to help for a little bit.
Around 1:00am, I could tell Mommy was hurting real bad. The pain medication wore off, or at least it wasn't helping anything anymore, and the nurses couldn't give Mommy any more until 2:00am. I finally said, "Enough is enough!" If Mommy's gonna hurt, I'm gonna try and help her feel better." I just started heading towards the light (like they taught me in Babyland). At 1:30am, I heard the nurse tell Mommy she was going to call the doctor in. He showed up about 2:10am and worked with Mommy until 2:40am when I was finally born!
Mommy and Daddy were both there, along with the Doctor and two nurses. They quickly wrapped me up in a blankie while Daddy cut my cord! After I was somewhat clean and crying just a little, they placed me on Mommy's chest and I knew that my life had just begun!
I have to go, but I will try and finish this later tonight. Long story short, the sugar in my blood is a little low, so I'm gonna have to stay in the nursery at the hospital for a little while longer. Mommy got discharged from the hospital, but she is actually allowed to stay in her room (at the hospital) so she can still come down to feed me every three hours. Daddy seems to be here for almost every feeding also. I know that he has stayed with Mommy and me at the hospital all along and has taken care of everyone waiting at home for me, too. He's the bestest Daddy in the world!!
Before I go, I just want to say how great the nurses and staff have been to all of us. They have been very helpful, educating, loving and we are all so happy with them. We might go so far as to give them a 5 star! (Guess we'll just have to wait for that survey) For real, we are so glad that we decided to go to Wuesthoff for my birthday.
Anyway, I gotta go. Like I said, I'll finish some more thoughts later tonight.
Love ya all!
Melody Elizabeth
