January 15th at 6:19 am

So baby Taylor has arrived since my last blog! I have been so busy with her that I haven't had any time to write, but I will give an update on everything. My last blog I was 38 and 1/2 wks preggers and nesting like it was going out of style. I would clean anything that remotely looked dirty in any way. I was reorganizing pantries, and cupboards and drawers over and over again. And the swiffer became my best friend. LOL. So as I turned 39 wks preggers, I decided to go to barnes and noble and put the gift card that my dad had bought me for xmas to some use. As I was walking back out to my car, I was feeling slightly strange. Now, the day before I had started some contracting here and there . Nothing too bad, but I was timing them and they were approx. every 8 min or so. My husband took me to olive garden and then back home where they continued. We called the doctor and he said to go on up to the hospital to make sure it wasn't the real thing. So we did. I was hooked up and asked a buttload of questions, given a gown and a room. My poor hubby sat there at the side of the bed with eyes as big as silver dollars scared to death. Deer in the headlights look ! LOL. They determined that they were contractions, but they wernt lasting long enough for an admission, so we headed back home. So hence, the contractions were still coming and going as I waddled out of barnes and noble. I was feeling the strange twinge down below as I stuffed myself into my car. I leaned forward to start the ignition and felt a gush of fluids. I was absolutely positive that this was NOT my bladder emptying itself, so I hustled on home and called my OB. He said n0t to worry and that it would probably be best if I came into the office for an exam , which wouldn't be for another two hours. I wrestled with that idea, consulted a good friend who works over on post partum, and finally decided to just head to Labor and Delivery to make sure. Why not try for strike two with the false alarms? The contractions started getting stronger as I entered the lobby and elevator. I could feel something happening. I was hooked up and given a gown. They took a sample of fluid and came back in what seemed like 5 hours to say that it had been my water breaking and I wasn't going anywhere. Thank the Lord above!
Well my husband was in burney at the time. Actually he was about an hour east of burney, so When he found out where I was, he dropped the job and came rushing home. Managed to escape a speeding ticket as well! The nurses checked me at noon and I was dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. I walked the halls with my mom a few times, Huffing and puffing the entire way. I used what I had seen in the movies and a baby story to the best of my ability! When I hit four cm I asked the nurse for the doc with the good stuff to make it all go away. LOL. The anestesiologist came in and was the NICEST man ever. The epidural felt like a tiny little prick to the back and then relief came not a moment too soon. Only the most intense itching ever known to man came with it, but I figured I could put up with the poison oak like drama if the pain down under was MIA. My family and friends stopped by, filtering in and out , saying hello and visiting. It was actually the best experience We could have asked for. At around 5 I was checked again. I was still at four, not moving and the baby had actually moved back up into my pelvis. No progress. The doctor was notified and informed the nurses that I was to be left alone until 5 the next morning and then my cervix would be checked again. I itched all night. My husband put cold compresses on my back while my fingers itched everything that my chubby little arms could reach. I actually had red scratch marks the next day. LOL. So five o'clock rolls around and the nurse checks. To my surprise I was completely dilated and fully effaced. She had turned during the night and dropped as well. I was actually started on pitocin when the epidural was administered, but they turned it off once They realized I wasn't progressing. So it was time to push all of a sudden. I felt my face get red and flushed. My stomach turned with a thousand butterflies and my husbands hand felt like it was going to snap off and go hurdling through the glass window overlooking the city. I starting pushing , counting to ten, doing it again like a good little girl. I w0uld push, then take a break. Tell a joke, tell a story, or take a sip of water. I felt something down below, pressure of some kind. Something I couldn't stop, like a freight train coming at full speed. The doctor made it just in time. I pushed twice more and then the most beautiful baby girl was being placed on my belly. She was crying and flailing her arms about. She was ours, the being I had grown inside me for the last nine months. Taking her first breath of air, filling her lungs with survival and victory. Something my mind plays over and over again everyday. The miracle of life, of my husband and I making a life.
Taylor came out kicking and screaming with apgar scores of 8 and 9. She weighed 7 lbs 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. Dark hair and blue eyes and the chubbiest cheeks any baby has ever possessed. She is our miracle, our love. My greatest achievement. Being a mother is not something anyone can prepare you for. But it is by far the best thing I have ever done, and will ever do. I love my life as a mommy and a wife .......