This is the question that I have been asked about a million times this week! Melanie is just a little bit excited for her birthday on Sunday! And I can't believe she is already going to be 3 years old...it just doesn't seem possible that the baby I just brought home from the hospital is going to be 3 this weekend. Since I wasn't writing this when she was born, I am going to recap the day she was born a little bit while I can still remember!
I woke up on the morning of August 23, 2006 at 5:30 am because I had to go to work. We were only a week and a half into the school year so I had 20 brand new kindergarteners just learning the system. Eric and I cuddled for a little bit, then I got up, debated showering (which I did, and to this day, so glad I made that decision because I would have been hitting the 60 hour mark on showering after giving birth....yuck!) and headed off to work. I didn't realize I would have my baby girl by the time the day was over because my due date wasn't until August 29th. My assistant, Denise, was already there because she was awesome and she knew how hugely pregnant I was! Around 7:15, the kids started coming in, I went to the bathroom and just didn't feel right...I felt like I was leaking, but I just chalked that up to being 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant! I started the morning with the kids, and around 9:30 am I was in my rolly chair teaching language arts, and I just still didn't feel right so I decided to call my doctor. They asked me if I had been having any contractions, which I hadn't, but they told me to come in and they would check me just to be sure nothing was going on. I told Denise, grabbed my bag and went to go find my principal to tell her I had to go to the doctor. I made the mistake of telling my students I would be back in a little while. When I walked into the hall, my friend Annemarie saw me with my purse and came out to see if I was ok, and I was like, "Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'll probably be back before lunch."
I left and went to the doctor, and realized I hadn't even called Eric yet. I called him, and he was about to be in a meeting, but got out of it and met me at the doctor's office. We got called back, and the doctor came in to check me and said he didn't think anything was going on yet, because I was only 2 cm. dialated and no contractions, but because I said I felt "leaky" (that was what I said to Dr. Perry...I'm great with the technical terms) he did this little test to see if my amniotic fluid was leaking. It was just a little strip, and he took it and left the room. Eric and I were sitting in the room, waiting, when Dr. Perry poked his head back in and asked if I had all my paperwork and bags in the car, because I was headed to the hospital! I wasn't crazy, I really was leaking! I started to cry, because even though I had 9 months to get ready for her, I all of a sudden, wasn't ready! Eric calmed me down, we got out of the doctor's office and hopped in my car. I called Ocee to tell them I wouldn't be back, and then we both called our moms to tell them. When we called my mom, Bobby got all excited because he had been saying since I told him I was having a baby that she would be born August 24th, and Dr. Perry mentioned since I wasn't even having contractions, the earliest she would be here would probably be in the middle of the night! They also told us to leave Eric's car at the doctor's and that they would go get it for us later so I wouldn't have to drive.
We started driving home and I decided that since it was almost lunchtime, I wanted to eat before they wouldn't let me at the hospital. So Eric swung by Wendy's for me and got me a cheeseburger, fries, and a Dr. Pepper. We took it home, ate, got changed, then headed for Northside. I was really glad we weren't in a huge rush because we got caught in construction traffic on 575! We got to the hospital around noon and got all checked in. Eric was disappointed we didn't get on the A-Team, but we were on the D-Team, and it worked out great because we got the best labor and delivery nurse! The first nurse wasn't that great...she didn't even know how to put the IV in the right way, and kind of bad mouthed me for taking so long to get to the hospital, but once she left, we got Nurse Heidi, and she was fantastic! The doctor came in and broke my water, and then started me on pitocin to get the contractions started. They started around 3:30, and I asked for my epidural arounf 3:35! The anastesiologist came in and he was fabulous. I sat on the bed, bent in half, and honestly, it felt like a little bee sting. Once it started working I felt great! I had Eric, my mom and Leeanne, and my in-laws all there to keep me occupied. Bobby came around 7 with a little cooler full of beer because they were all celebrating! He looked very official walking through the hospital with the cooler...it looked like he was transporting organs! Eric went out for barbecue at his favorite barbecue place, and he was pretty calm through everything.
Everything was pretty calm...we watched Scrubs and Mythbusters, and around 10 the doctor came and checked me, and I was around 6 cm. They said she would probably be here my 2 am (August 24th). I just got relaxed and hung out, and all of a sudden around 11, I felt awful! Something didn't feel right. Eric went and got the nurse, because there was a bunch of drama with someone giving birth on the side of the road, and someone else who had a paternity situation. Nurse Heidi checked me, and from 10:00 to 11:00, I went from 6 cm. to 10 cm.! I was ready to go! The doctor was delivering someone else, so Heidi told me just to push enough to make myself feel better! During that time, my blood pressure started going really high, and I knew it was bad because of the look on Eric's face. I really thought they were going to end up doing a c-section on me. Luckily, the doctor came in a few minutes later and I started pushing. Dr. Dang was awesome. She kept an eye on my blood pressure, and I started really pushing. I pushed for about 35 minutes, and I got her head out! Eric said she was just a mess of dark hair, and was just staring up at the ceiling. I said I was done pushing and took a break. I probably sat like that for a minute, and then just went for it and out came Melanie...screaming, of course. She always had a very distinctive scream, but she was so beautiful...I couldn't take my eyes off her! At that point, I realized I had no idea what time it was, so I wasn't sure if she was born on the 23rd or the 24th. If I was more "with it", I would have thought about how Nightline was on when she came, so clearly that meant she was born on the 23rd. 11:43 pm, to be exact! Eric went running out to show everyone Melanie's teeny tiny footprints and gave them whatever details he knew...which at that point was probably just that she was here. I don't think he knew what time she was born, or how big she was, or anything! He brought my mom back first, and then got his mom and dad, and then our brothers and sisters. Everyone was as smitten as we were! They all hung out for a while, and then left to go get some sleep and to give us some time, because Melanie was getting hungry and I had no idea how to nurse her! Luckily, she was a good little eater so it was fine.
They got her all cleaned up and we got moved from the delivery room to our room...which was not a private room, but a shared room. So instead of Eric getting to stay with us, he had to leave because there was no room whatsoever! (He took care of that problem the next day...we had a private room for the next night...and a stork on the door, too....he was not too happy about not having a stork for his baby girl!)
I just can't believe it's already been 3 years...it's flown by, but it's been the best 3 years of my life! And "August twenty-fird" was one of the best days of my life, because we got our first beautiful little girl!
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