Hadley Grace's Birth Story

I went to see Dr. Nisbet for my 39 week appointment on Friday morning (September 3) and FINALLY had a slight change...I was at a 2. As we were leaving I told Dr. N that I hoped not to see her for my appointment that following Friday. She looked hesitant and said if she didn't see me Friday it would be because she saw me Wednesday or Thursday. I told her I was hoping more like Saturday, she looked skeptical, and I looked bummed and desperate.

Joe took me in to work and made plans to come pick me up, I think he felt pretty bad for me at that point. Through the course of that day at work, I decided that I was done. Monday was Labor Day and I was hell bent I would have Hadley before Thursday! Stella gave me permission to work from home until Hadley came. I said my farewells and waddled out of the building, laptop in tow.

That night, Joe and I went to dinner at Cracker Barrel. All I could think of wanting to eat was fried okra (ick) and jelly beans. I ate dinner and skipped the jelly beans (and craved them all night long).

Saturday we went to Babies R Us, walked around the mall, went to HEB (bought jelly beans), made dinner, and went for a walk. Joe was transitioning to the night shift, so after watching The Backup Plan, I went to bed and Joe went out to work on his car. I woke up at 11:15, stuck my head in the garage and chatted with Joe. I made sure he knew I was just up for jelly beans and that I wasn't in labor. I grabbed some jelly beans and got back in bed. Right as I was starting to fall back asleep (still chewing my jelly beans like a cow chews grass) I felt a little strange. My water was breaking, it was 11:39 Saturday night. I got myself in gear (as fast as one can at 39 weeks pregnant), called the doctor's office, stuck my head in the
garage and told Joe I was in fact in labor, changed my clothes, called my Mom, and we were off.

When I got to the hospital the nurse told me I could wait in the waiting room or put on a gown and wait in one of the open rooms. I opted for a room of course. I got in there right at 12:00 am. The nurse FINALLY came in and checked me. When she hooked me up to the machine she said I was having contractions every 3-4 minutes. I didn't even know I was having them (thank you Lord)! Labor was not as bad as I had anticipated, I had a lot of pressure in my back. It was certainly uncomfortable, but better than I had thought it would be. Mom, Dad, and Joe were there the whole time I was in labor (Dad left for the delivery part). Dad even came up with a "cheer" to get me to progress--funny if not only slightly inappropriate.

The rest of the story is a blur or not part of the story that should be shared. Right up until delivery, we had excellent nurses (then shift change brought in a few ding bats). Dr. Bowman was on-call that day, she was amazing. I loved her and am glad that she was the one to bring Hadley Grace safely into this world. Hadley was born at 11:44 am on Sunday September 5, 2010. She had a head full of dark hair, blue eyes, and was a tiny bundle of awesome! She weighed in at 7 pounds 10.5 ounces and was 20 inches long. One of the first things I noticed about her was that she could flare her nostrils---a girl after her mom's heart! ha!

We spent the next couple of days in the hospital. There was a Tropical Storm that was hitting south Texas, so we had lots of rain on the day we were released. Finally on Tuesday at about 2:00pm we were discharged to go home. Hadley did great in her car seat, she gripped my finger the whole way home, and I'm pretty sure I cried the entire way. Was this really happening? Years of wondering what it would be like to have a baby in my house, to parent a child, and here we were in our Honda CR-V, headed to our sweet little house about to find out what life is really all about.

When we got home, we showed Hadley the house, we took her to her room and showed her all of her sweet things. We put her in her swing, we held her, we stared at her, and just soaked in those first hours at home together as a family.