Now You Don't

My Beautiful Big Girl is 7 today.

Let me tell you about the day she was born. I love labour stories. They're sometimes dramatic, often funny and always interesting.

My daughter was born on December 9, 1998 at 7:21 a.m. She weighed 7lbs, 15oz.

My appointment with my OBGYN was the afternoon of the 8th. My due date was the 9th, so I got treated to an internal. Oh, joy. I was 1cm dilated. Yay! But that didn't mean I'd be having the baby right away, said the doctor. I held on to hope, because I was sick of being pregnant. :-)

I had a contraction later that evening, maybe around 7:00 p.m. I couldn't remember when to go to the hospital. I waited until 10:00 p.m. The contractions weren't very close together or anything, but they were getting longer. I called DH to come home from work. He made a very big show of calming me down, because apparently *I* was panicky. ;-)

We spent 7 hours in the hospital. I should have waited. Oh well, first-timer, what did I know? My cousin was the other person allowed in the delivery room, so she and DH took turns watching me try to breathe. My sister showed up a bit later, too. That was pretty cool, because I hadn't realised that she cared. I didn't take the epidural, because the idea of a needle in the spine freaks me out. I did get a shot of Nubaine. We tried the whilrpool tub thing, but that didn't work for me. I also sucked on nitrous oxide for 1.5 hours of hard labour, having been told not to push while we waited for my doctor to be called in, because the doctor on staff that night was too busy. Enter doctor.

Dr: "Do I have time to change into scrubs?"

Me: *pitiful look*

Cousin (firmly) : "No, you do not."

She's funny. DH was watching down with the doctor, cousin and a nurse were holding my hands. The nurse says I can see the head, if I look. "I don't *want* to look!" I told her, with a withering glare. Oh, the crowning hurts like hell, doesn't it? And then it was over. But I couldn't see my baby. Its arrival wasn't accompanied by the statement "It's a *gender*!" like on TV. DH was watching, engrossed in whatever the doctor was doing, the nurse let me lay back down, cousin was looking, as was sister. And no-one was telling me who was there. Well? Well? DH and cousin deny saying it, but from somewhere, I heard "Hello, *DD's name*" and that's how I knew it was a girl. Then they put her on my chest and I fell in love.

DH watched avidly as the doc sewed me up - 15 stitches. I was a big sissy about that. I could see the needle come way up and then go down... My legs were shaking like crazy. My sister was crying. She and my cousin still brag about holding DD when she was so new. I looked like hell. But she was so beautiful.

*****

A couple extra pics. The first is me with DD at Christmas last year and the second is me with DS in June. I have since cut his hair.


I wish I had a better pic of me. I tried to make them not grainy, but oh well.

Editted to take out pictures.