One Year Ago......

One year ago today Jeron and I were running errands and doing the last minute things to get ready for the newest member of our family to arrive! I have never had that kind of time. I have been induced with all five of my kids and they usually get you in first thing in the morning unless they have too many come in through the night. I have been able to be with the same doctor for all 5 of my kids and he was actually the one to deliver all of them too! He prefers Wednesdays and all 3 of the boys were born on a Wednesday. Because Jeron was still in training at Fidelity when Emma was born Wednesday wasn't very good for us so he did it on Friday. When I went in for my appointment on September 17 with Maycie I was hoping he would be able to find a way to just keep me! Of course it was more then a week before my due date and so there had to be a medical reason to do so. We did a stress test (I didn't feel like she was moving enough) and they checked some other things too. I think we were all looking for a reason to keep me. My doctor was leaving the next day for an out of town conference and wouldn't be back for a week. But there was just not a medical reason to keep me. The fact that it was my Grandma's birthday just didn't count!

Can I just tell you that it pays to stay with a doctor for 5 kids! When we knew there was no way to keep me he sits me down and tells me that he will set up the inducement for next Thursday (Sep. 25). I was surprised because I know he doesn't do inducements on Thursdays but I wasn't going to argue! He told me he would set it up for the afternoon to make sure he was back in time. So Jeron and I spent the morning doing all the things I am doing the day before by myself! Normally the night before an inducement for me is like Christmas Eve! Butterflies in the tummy and everything! But it is also like Christmas Eve in that when I wake up it's here! With not going in until the afternoon it was like Christmas Eve that stretched all the way until like 3:30 the next day! I got to the hospital and we got things going. They got me on my IV and got the pit going. Then I asked when Dr. Later would come in to break my water. It was then that I found out that he was still on an air plane on his way home! When he set things up for me (did I tell you that he was the one to make the call and everything!) he didn't tell me when he was flying in. I just assumed that he was flying in earlier in the day and did the afternoon to give himself some time to rest and everything! Oh no, he came right from the airport to break my water and everything, but didn't get there until like 6:30. Then he went home to rest and they kept him updated.

With my past labors we were all expecting a baby by 9pm. There were so many things that were different this time. Things just didn't progress. Normally I have a really good break in my water not long after they get my going on the pit so we thought maybe that was it and that after he broke my water it would help. Nope, no such luck! I kept getting all light headed and I had to be on oxygen. I've never had to do that before! I've also never had to go through a shift change before either. My second nurse gave me a Popsicle and that totally helped me! I had no idea I could have a Popsicle! The sugar was just what I needed! But then we realized every time I sat up too far the baby's heart rate would drop. Every time they would check me I felt like we were going no where and doing nothing. I kept telling the nurses, "this is not how things go for me. This is not how my labor's go." And I got back, "every labor is different dear." Well, after 4 other labors being almost identical I wanted to scream I know what I am talking about! But they are the medical professionals so I didn't! At 10pm we started getting phone calls from family "What is going on?" I think they all thought that we just forgot to call them because there was no way our baby girl wasn't here! But she wasn't. My one sister told me later she was afraid to go to bed because she was just sure something had to be wrong! It seemed everyone but the nurses thought it was odd for this to be so different! I felt like we were just hanging out at the hospital, it was so weird! There was a couple of times they said they thought her head was turned and that might be part of the problem, it wasn't letting her drop. Finally at midnight Dr. Later came back to the hospital and checked me. I was still only at an 8 at that point (I had never been in actual labor that long before!) He told me he was going to come back in half an hour and we were going to have a baby. Looking back on that now what he was telling me was that either I was ready to deliver a baby or he was going to have to take her C-Section. Luckily I have the most calm doctor ever and I totally didn't get it then! He came back and I still wasn't quite there yet but being the good doctor that he was he found a way to make it happen! I have to hand it to everyone else in the delivery room. They were all very calm through the whole thing. I don't have to push too long. Luckily that was pretty normal! I am pushing away and then the doctor tells me to hold it for just a minute. And then we finish up and there is my baby girl and she is beautiful! Black and blue but beautiful! I didn't find out the reason I had to stop pushing was because the cord was around her neck until quite a bit later. Jeron didn't even show it as far as I could tell at the time. On top of the cord she aspirated some and so I had to wait longer to feed her then I wanted to. It says so much about what a good doctor I have that everything she went through coming into this world and they didn't even have to take her away from me! I have talked to so many people that have had a similar stories and the baby was fine but had to be rushed away to make sure. I know we had our own little miracle that night! We joke that the boys had been born on Wednesday, Emma had been born on a Friday so Maycie decided to wait and be born on a Friday like her big sis!

We did have our own little dilemma while we were getting ready for the actual delivery. We started a tradition when Connor was born, that until now had not been hard to keep, to have some family time before anyone else sees the baby. Well, this time it was the middle of the night and the big kids had school the next day! We have such good family! The kids at that point were at my in-laws house and they were willing to do what ever we asked them to. We had planed for the kids to spend the time I was in the hospital with my mom and dad because they live really close and my mom could get the kids to and from school without a problem. She too, was willing to do what ever we asked of her. She has been at the hospital with me through every labor and sits outside the door to hear the first cry. She told me that as long as she could hear the first cry and know everything was okay she was just fine! We finally decided to go ahead and have my in-laws bring the kids to the hospital. I deliver at Alta View and they live just off of 90th and 2nd East so the kids were close. At the time I felt kind of guilty about it. What kind of mom has her kids trooping around at 1:00 in the morning?! But after I was so glad that I did! My mom was going to let the kids sleep late the next morning and just take them to school late. But they wouldn't hear of it! They were on time for school the next morning but I'm pretty sure they didn't learn much! All they could talk about was their new baby sister! I don't think they would have ever forgiven me if we had waited for them to see her until the next morning! Even if they knew no one else had seen her either. Especially the boys because they were very aware of the tradition and how it worked!

As I have looked back over the last year I wonder where the time has gone. I said that to my dad the other day and he said to me, "It went into a helmet." And that is true. I guess I should have known from the beginning nothing was going to be normal with our little Maycie Jayne! For the first time ever we went to the hospital with the name down to 3 choices instead of having been calling the baby by a name for the last few months. Her labor and delivery were defiantly different. And now I can look back on the pictures from the day she was born and see some of the problems in her forehead that led to the helmet. I am sure that her head was turned and that is why she went into the position after so easily and quickly.

As I think about my baby's first birthday tomorrow it is a bitter sweet sorrow. I know someone has to be the end. Every train has to have a caboose, and Maycie is ours! I know we are done and that in and of its self is a good feeling!

Official birthday post with pictures of Maycie from the last year will come! Thanks for letting me reminisce!