Audrey's Amazing Appearance.

She's here! Our beautiful, amazing, perfect, adorable little girl is here. I guess I should start from the beginning......

Monday, March 22nd, I woke up and drug my tired butt to work. I felt a little funny all day, but when you are pregnant, that is nothing new. I told my boss I was going home. Sitting in the car on Nicholasville Rd. I felt a sharp pain and thought "How strange." By the time I got home, I knew it was definitely contractions. I waited a bit to see how far apart they were, and at 1hr 10 min apart, I was no where near panicked. I called Jeremy, let him know and told him not to come home, because I could contract for a while at this rate, no hurry. Well, 2 hours later I was contracting every 10 minutes, needless to say Jeremy made it home in 15 minutes (It is usually a 30 minute drive). We decided not to call the MD because, once again I thought, "this could last a while".
He took a shower, and I started feeling worse. After every contraction I was vomiting profusely. I lost track of time, and finally asked Jeremy how far apart the contractions were, and said 3 minutes. Off we went to the hospital, things were just happening too fast. We checked in about 8pm

We checked in, got "comfortable", the nurse came in and told me I was severely dehydrated. 3 bags of fluid, and 6 centimeters later, it was 6am. I did not want an epidural, but the doctor felt I didn't have a choice. So they crammed the needle in my back, and I do have to say I was sooo relieved. My sister was there by 7am, and I crashed and took a nap for a little bit. I was awakened by the nurse making me wear an oxygen mask because the baby's heartbeat was starting to become irregular. Panic started setting in. By noon the nurse told me I was 7 centimeters. Then everything happened extremely fast. We planned on calling family only when I was at the pushing stage. Jeremy was desperately making calls by 12:30. The MD came in and checked things out. Then he went back to the office, told the nurse to call him when I was "ready" and he was back by 1pm. Our little miracle entered the world at 1:31pm March 23rd. She weighed 6lbs, 9 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Then came the scariest moment of my life....she wasn't crying. The doctor was cleaning out her airways, due to meconium aspiration. (Terrifying) They immediately handed her over to nurses and a pediatrician. Jeremy didn't get the opportunity to cut the umbilical cord. 5 minutes past with absolutely no news, not even a whisper, so I started FREAKING out. Jeremy went to the nursing area, to see her and make sure she was ok. He was reluctant to leave me at the time, but he said judging from the look on my face he didn't have a choice. Again, it seemed like an eternity passed, but he came back and said she was ok. I still had my doubts, and was crying profusely. The MD told me to relax everything would be fine, but at the time, his word meant less than crap to me, I wanted my baby. The nurse brought her in, and let me hold her for 2 minutes, and she actually timed it, literally 2 minutes. Then they took my baby away again. Again, the panic set in. They let Jeremy walked her to the nursery, and that gave me some peace of mind. He kept telling me not to panic, she would be fine. I know the risk of meconium aspiration, and was terrified. I must have asked every nurse that came in how her respiration was, if she was stable, and 200 more questions. I think they were annoyed with me, but to their credit, each one of them acted extremely professional while they evading my questions. We moved rooms, got settled in, filled out 400 forms and answered just as many questions from a new team of doctors and nurses. The hardest part at this point was trying to stay calm, so no one else panicked. Jeremy and I thought that was for the best that no one knew the risks, unless it was absolutely necessary. I couldn't even think about sending her to NICU. Saying I prayed hard, would be a understatement. I am prettty sure God was tiredof hearing me. ;)

I know I asked Jeremy to walk to the nursery and check on her at least 3 times. Her respiration was not stable. Again, the freaking out happened.

Finally, at 6pm that night, they brought our baby girl to me. We got to spend some alone time with her, for a little bit, and I cried like a baby. I felt like I could actually breathe for the first time all day. She was as close to perfect as I could ever expect (but I am kind of biased).

She made an eventful appearance, but I should not have expected any less. She is our little miracle baby. Again, He answered my prayers.

Jeremy has been just as wonderful as I expected him to be, in some ways better. They say you fall in love all over again with your husband, when you have a baby, and I say that is an understatement. It is undescribable to see the man you decided to spend the rest of your life with, holding a little tiny 6lb baby and know he would move heaven and earth for her, literally. He changed her 1st diaper, which he assures me is worse than any diaper that has occur ed since then. He gets up randomly during the night when he can't hear her breathing, just to make sure she is ok. He talks to her like she understands every word he says. He can't stand to see or hear her cry. He cried when he left the hospital to come home for the night to get some sleep, because he couldn't stand to be away from her that long. How can you not love a man like that? People have told me they are "surprised at how well Jeremy does with the baby", my response "I'm not. I knew he would be great." It honestly irritates me when people express doubt in him, but I think I cover well. I know he has tattoos and piercings, and sometimes he can look a little "scary", but he has a heart of pure gold. He is better than great with her, he is fantastic. He is her daddy!!
He manages to do all this for our daughter, and asks me at least 3 or 4 times a day if I am ok. Of course I am ok, we have a fabulous family. He reminds me that the laundry can wait, I should be sleeping. He reminds me to "do what the doctor told you do", who cares if there are dishes in the sink. Needless to say, I am more and more thankful everyday that I said "yes" to this wonderful man.

I am going to enjoy this blog, as it lets me put my thoughts somewhere other than in my own head. It is very therapeutic, but it is also a place to "brag" about our perfect little family, and reflect about Audrey's Amazing Appearance!!