The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

I was somewhat worried about your upcoming labor and delivery. I was hoping that things would go as smoothly and quickly as it had with your brother. Sure, I was younger then and, yes, I was in much better shape, but a girl can still hope, right? After the first contraction hit I knew things would be different this time around. The contraction already had a hint of pain and none of the pressure I felt the last time. That was just after 1 a.m. Monday morning. After the second one I started to time them - they were 11 minutes apart. The way I figured it I had a good six hours before I had to worry about your arrival. So, I did what any logical person would do...I went to bed. I woke up again after 2 a.m. and figured since I was up I may as well pack my hospital bag. Your father woke up and wanted to know what I was doing. I told him but since the contractions were now only 10 minutes apart we knew there was time so we both went back to sleep. I guess we could have gone to the hospital but it would have been really inconvenient. We couldn't leave your two brothers home alone. In my mind I figured we could wait until morning then get Sid ready for school and then take me to the hospital since they are in the same neighborhood. Well, 6 a.m. and the contractions woke me up. Seven minutes apart and more painful. At 7 a.m. your father and Sid got up to start getting ready. Your father didn't realize how close I was because he was taking his time - that is until I hurried him along with a coule of "gentle" proddings. By the time we were ready to leave an hour later the contractions were five minutes apart and they had me twisting in every direction to try to ease the pain, but to no avail. I have never had pain that couldn't be relieved.

The drive should have lasted no more than 30 minutes. That meant at least another six contractions. Or so I thought. The five minute reprieve quickly turned to three minutes. We went through two school zones and traffic but the kicker was when we were literally around the corner from the hospital when we got stuck behind a school bus...picking up children in wheelchairs. I know your father would have gone around the bus if he had any opportunity but we were on a two-lane road with a median in between so there was no getting around it. We had to wait. Anyway, the back doors of the bus had to be opened, the lift lowered, each kid put in and the chair locked on, lifted into the bus and taken off the lift. Granted, there were only two kids but those few minutes saw me having contractions two minutes apart and Sid in the backseat watching me from the side mirror. (We had planned to drop him off to school first but there was no way I was going to make it.) Once the bus got out of our way we zipped around the corner and headed up to the main entrance nearly running over three guys who were walking in the driveway. Your father honked and they acted like they didn't know which way to find the sidewalk, so him being they way he is he revved the engine and kept driving towards them barely slowing down. Yes, they moved then. At the front door I wanted to make a run for it but your father made it out of the car before me and went inside to try to get a wheelchair and someone to help me since he couldn't very well leave your brother outside in the car by himself. He came back with the chair and wheeled me in and left. With no one to help I had to start wheelng myself down the corridor towards the delivery area. I made it halfway when a wonderful man saw me and offered to push me the rest of the way.

I finally got to where I needed to be and I told the nurse I was having a baby. I'm sure she was thinking, yeah, right. I must have had at least five more contractions before she finally paid me enough attention to put me a delivery room. She had me change and when she checked me I was six cm dilated. I asked her what the goal was and she told me 10 cm. I immediately looked at the clock wondering how much more I could take. It was 8:25 a.m. Nurses came and went. One hooked me up to an IV, another checked on me, and another kept giving me papers to sign. Some contractions and 15 minutes later your father found me. With barely enough time to breath between the surges of pain the pressure started and my water broke. I warned the main nurse that I couldn't not push. She tried to tell me to breathe through it. That lasted for two contractions and I told her you were coming. She ran and got the midwife since the doctor hadn't arrived yet. I really couldn't control it. It was like trying to not throw up - you can keep it at bay for only so long but then the body takes over and the mind has no say anymore. So out you started to come. The midwife kept telling me to push and give it one long push and your father tried to hold my hand while repeating what the midwife said. I wanted to smack them all. I tried telling them I had no energy left but they kept "coaching" me along. At 8:53 a.m. you flew out and tore me every which way from Tuesday (I have to use a sitz bath every day now, thank you very much). You cried a little bit but then you stopped. I was so relieved to not have to push anymore and the pain was finally over. Not 10 minutes later the doctor walks in and sees that he missed the excitement. All he had to do was clean up the mess, i.e. stitch me up. In the meantime your father was busy cutting your umbilical cord, taking pictures and making phone calls. When everything was done I got to hold you. Yup, you were a girl. You were my Shelby. I looked at you and looked at you. You were so cute. And you turned out to be a strong sucker, a natural! I don't remember much after that. At some point, maybe an hour later, you were taken upstairs and I was wheeled to my room. After the morning's ordeal I was starved so as soon as I was allowed you know I ordered breakfast: french toast, scrambled eggs, a fruit platter, and hot chocolate. That turned out to be my breakfast every morning. The days kind of went in a blur after that. You were brought back to me all bundled up and sleeping peacefully. Then our roomies joined us (they ended up bogarting half the room including the sink, but that's another story). You got a couple of visitors, I got some flowers and candy. Your brother, Sid, was too excited to come and see you after school. He wanted to see you and kiss you and hold you. That morning before I left the car I had told him that he would have his sister that day. A big smile had broken out on his face. And speaking of Sid, I was somewhat surprised and how much the two of you look alike at birth. He was a little heavier and longer with thicker legs and more hair. You had longer fingers and toes. You were both perfect to me.

There's more to tell, esp. about your eating habits but I'll leave that for another post. But if I say that you were born 7lbs and 4 oz, and you left the hospital under 7lbs, then one week later you were already up to 7lbs and 15oz, you'll know that eating was not one of your problems. :) I guess you get your appetite from me.

Nicknames for you: Booby, Sweepy (Sweet Pea), Wonky
Your name: Shelby Alana Morgan