Happy Birthday Elizabeth: The Story of How Elizabeth Came Into This World

Due to the preclampsia that I was diagnosed with back in January, my doctor told us that she was going to induce labor early so that we could ward of any further complications. The day that was picked was February 3rd at 6:00 am at Centennial Medical Center, .5 miles from our house. Sean and I set our alarm for 5am, but when I got up to pee at 4am, that was it for me, I was up. Sean took his shower and while I waited to jump in, I turned Pandora on via the iphone and started my day off with a little Cure "Pictures of You." It was a good song to start the day off and onward. Before we knew it we were admitted to the hospital, I had my IV (which I hated) and by 6:45 the potosin was started.

As the morning wore on, they upped my dosage of potosin, Sean and I played a few hands of Uno, and knew everything that was going on in the world as we had the TV on nothing but news channels all day long. My parents arrived around lunch time and Dr. Petrovski made it to see how my progess was doing. Unfortunately, my body was not as far along as we had all hoped, but we showed enough progress for her to go ahead and break my water. The unfortunate issue was that every time they upped my potosin, my body and the baby were not reacting in the way it needed to and the baby's heart rate would drop a bit. Nothing too crazy, but enough for them to turn off my potosin to see what my body would do now that my water was broken. Time ticks on, and on, and on....

By 3:30, I decided it was time for an epidural and had the most awesome anesthesiologist ever come in and give it to me. Dr. Dao was pretty kick a if I have to say so myself and he made Sean and I feel as comfortable as I possibly could be. Thank you for all that you did Dr. Dao. I will pay that bill with a smile on my face.

At 5:00, my doctor came over from her practice and we discussed what was going on with me and my body. Unfortunately, I was still only 5cm dilated and it did not look like things were going as well as expected. Things were swelling up, and my pelvis was not going to allow the baby to go through. Dr. Petrovski recommended that we go ahead with a C-Section and avoid getting into a emergency C-Section situation as she did not see that my body would change the longer we waited. This was decided at 5:15 and at 5:21, I was wheeled into the operating room. Thankfully, Dr. Dao chatted with me while they prepped me, and explained what was going on with the doctors. Right before they opened me up, they brought Sean in wearing scrubs, a hat, and a mask....my own Dr. McDaddy. It was rather funny and cute too! At 5:42 I heard the cries of my daughter, Elizabeth Leigh, come into this world. It was such a surreal moment and one that I will never forget. After making sure that I was okay, Sean went over to check out the latest addition to the family and proclaimed her to be absolutely beautiful. While over in baby's area, Sean had a great view of me, open, naked on the operating room table (fun huh?) and then compared me to a gutted deer. Isn't he sweet? I thought so too. Sean brought Elizabeth over to me and the first thing she did was stick her tongue out at me, not once, but twice...and she really was as beautiful as Sean had said she was.

While the doctors were sewing me up, Sean was able to go into the nursery for all the measuring, eye medication, and whatnots. The nurses kept me informed that she weight 7 pounds and 6 ounces, measured 19.75 inches, and scored perfect on her APGAR test. I was thrilled! They rolled me out of the operating room at 6:22. Amazing.

From the operating room, they took me to recover in my labor and delivery room for about an hour--an hour of just time spent with Sean and realizing that our world had changed forever in a matter of minutes. I am so thankful we had that time. I was covered in blankets from head to toe as I had massive trembles from the hormone shift, the shock, and awe of everything too. The nurses brought Elizabeth in for her first feeding and she then flipped me off--what a great way to start this relationship off....it really was cute though. We saw all of the grandparents and we were moved into my room for the remainder of the stay. Most of the rest of the evening was a blur, but I know that I have never in my life been so tired, but sleep would allude me all night long due to nurses coming in and out giving me medicine, taking my vitals, and bring Elizabeth in to nurse.

While the cesarean was not in the plan, I am very comfortable with the fact that it had happened and to show for it is now a beautiful baby girl and a scar. Now, it is time to heal and what a painful process that has been thus far, but I have faith in my happy pills, my strong husband, and the desire to take care of my little girl to get me through all of this.

More from our hospital adventures tomorrow...