Right before Melanie turned 3, I wrote down exactly what happened the day she was born so I wouldn't forget, and now here I am doing the same thing for Meredith. I can't believe my sweet baby girl is already going to be 3!
The story of Meredith being born starts early on July 3, 2008. I was up super early and I had an early doctor's appointment to check my blood pressure and to see if I would make it through the holiday weekend before they induced me on Monday, July 7th. I had been on bed rest for 2 months at that point, and I was just ready to meet my sweet girl! My mom had come over to watch Melanie for us since Eric was coming with me, and so off we were to the doctor! When we got there, my blood pressure was through the roof, and Melanie (the nurse practitioner) decided that it wouldn't be healthy for Meredith of me to wait through the weekend, so she sent us off to Northside. We had to go back home for a minute to get all of the last minute stuff that wasn't packed yet, and of course, to give my big girl a hug and a kiss!
So Eric and I were on our way to the hospital...after a stop at the Zaxby's drive thru! We got down to the hospital, got settled in our room around noon, and once again, Eric was disappointed we didn't get on the A Team again (we were on the C Team this time). Dr. Dawson came in to check on me, and he told me that since I was hardly dialated or effaced, he said they were going to put in cervadil in at around 5 to get the process started, and that stays in around 12 hours. They would give me some Ambien to help me get some really good sleep, and then, at around 6 am, I could get up and shower, and then they would start pitocin to get the contractions going. It sounded like a great plan! If only it had worked out that way.....
Everyone who was visiting (our moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and Melanie) left around 7 so that we could get some rest. I had already had the cervadil put in, so our plan was off to a good start! Eric and I were all settled, we were watching Animal House on AMC, and they gave me 2 Ambien around 9 pm. We were laughing at one of our favorite movies, and also laughing at how Melanie thought the biohazard bags had pictures of Mickey Mouse on them, and just trying to relax before all the craziness that we knew the next day would bring.
I guess I fell asleep around 10 or 10:30, and was sleeping fantastically until about 2 am. That's when I probably had the rudest awakening of my life, which were these God-awful contractions. Apparently, I had gone into labor on my own in the middle of the night! I woke Eric up, and one of the nicest nurses came in the room (I wish I could remember her name....I couldn't remember it the following morning, so it's not just because it's been 3 years!) She was wonderful and took such great care of me. She came in and told me that there was only one anesthesiologist on call that night because it was a holiday, so there was a line of people in front of me to get an epidural, so she asked me if I wanted some pain meds in my IV until the epidural could be administered, so in my Ambien/sleep deprived haze, I said yes, forgetting about my intolerance of pain medication! Anyway, the anesthesiologist came in a little after 4, and honest to God, I don't even remember feeling the epidural go in. The only thing I vaguely remember about that time was that the doctor was telling Eric racist jokes while he was doing the epidural! I began to feel so much better after that, and even managed to fall asleep for a little while after that, until around 6, when the pain meds made themselves known again. I got so sick from the medicine, and because I was stuck in bed, my wonderful husband held a bucket next to my bed for me. Around 7, my night nurse left and I was lucky and got another fabulous nurse, Carla. Dr. Dawson also came in to check me and I was dialated to 9, and he was leaving, too, but Dr. Hathaway was coming in, and she was great too (just not as cute as Dr. Dawson!) :) I called my mom around 7:15 and they were just about to be out the door with Mellie to come down to the hospital. Since it was the 4th of July, there wasn't a lot of traffic so they were there by 8 and I got to see my baby one more time before we had 2 babies!! (And also, my dad said the last song he heard in the car that morning was "Viva la Verde" by Coldplay, so that would be Meredith's song. That's right, "Viva la Verde".)
Everyone cleared out of the room by 8:15 because we were getting close. It was about this point when the nurse looked down and sort of had a concerned look on her face....Meredith had apparently gone to the bathroom already, so now we needed to have a NICU team in the room when she was born to suction all of the poop out of her lungs as soon as she came out. (We should have known then!! :) At 8:50, the NICU team was in there, the doctor was in there, and we were ready to go! I started pushing at 8:56 (I had Good Morning America on the t.v. and Chaka Khan was on, and I just happened to see the little clock on the corner of the t.v.) I pushed 6 times, and out came Meredith at 9:02 am. (During a Peachtree Road Race update on t.v....talk about a true Atlanta 4th of July baby!) I wasn't able to hold her right away because she had to have her lungs suctioned, and I was concerned because I hadn't heard her cry yet, but Nurse Carla was reassuring that this was only because she couldn't cry when they were suctioning her lungs. A few minutes later, (it seemed like an ETERNITY to a new mommy) I heard my precious little girl cry for the first time, and they handed me our little angel.
After I got all stitched up, Eric went out and got my mom and dad, and of course, Meredith's new big sister, Melanie! Melanie wasn't too sure about all of this at first, but we figured out a little later it wasn't about Meredith. She didn't like seeing me in the hospital bed, not being able to get up! Eric got his mom and dad back there, and Bobby, Leeanne, and Theresa, and then we sat around waiting, and waiting, and waiting to move up to a normal room. It took awhile, but they finally got us up to a room, and it was a FANTASTIC room!
We spent all day just hanging out and relaxing after our long night, and later, Eric took Melanie back home for a little bit to change and go fishing. They came back, and along with my family, we watched at least 5 different fireworks shows from the window of our 5th floor room. It was so cool to see all of that going on!
The next day we had lots of visitors, and just rested. Eric and Leeanne took Melanie to the mall, and it was so funny because at this point, Melanie (at not even 2 years old) knew how to get back to the hospital when they were driving in the car!
We went home the next day, and it was one of the happiest days of my life. The 4th of July will now forever be the anniversary of our family being complete. I can't believe that it has been 3 years since we brought our second precious baby girl home, and she lights up our life every day. I love that we can't see anything red, white and blue anymore without someone in the back seat of the car announcing "That's Meredith's birfday colors! That's my birfday flag!" Happy Birthday little Magoo!!
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