3 Years Ago

Do you remember what you were doing 3 years ago on December 21st at 12:40am? I sure do. I was in the hospital bed at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. Lee was snoring loudly on the cot. I was big and fat and pregnant. My labor pains started about two hours ago. The nurse gave me something to help me sleep. I told her I had small contractions but nothing was showing up on the monitor. Later we found out it was positioned way off and I had been in labor.

In a few hours, around 5:30 am I was waking up with Lee. Dr. Lile walked in to the room. He orders the pitocin and breaks my water. Oh my gosh! Within 5 mins the contractions had intensified well beyond my pain threshold. Still being told that I couldn't be having contractions because nothing was registering. Jana arrives around 7:30. I am in pain. I want an epi but have to wait until I'm 3cm. Finally they readjust the monitor belt contraption (that's really funny looking on an extended belly) and who would've thunk it but contractions showing up.

Lee was really nervous seeing me in pain. My knuckles would turn white from me holding on to the rails of the bed. Jana would talk me through the cx and tell me when it was coming down. Lee was so nervous he would start talking non-stop during them. It was awful, I wanted silence. I yelled for him to shut up a few times. Then I'd apologize when the cx would end.

Finally around 11 I reached 3cm. Glory hallelujah. But oh no, the stupid Anesthesiologist refused to give me the epi b/c I hadn't had blood work done recently. I guess the blood for the night before didn't count. Lee was livid. They said it'd take the lab 1-2 hours to process everything. Jana was walking me through the pain and Lee was on a mission to kill someone. He went into the hall and happened to see Dr. Lile. The lady was in the room taking my blood. Less than a min later Dr. Lile is telling someone on the phone that they better have run it NOW. Five mins later I had my epi. Wow! What a difference that makes.

I guess it's around 11:45 by the time all of the hoopla finished. I'm feeling great. I'm singing some song from American Idol and my fingers are waving in the air. Lee and Jana need to eat and I told them to go and get something. As they are leaving promising to be back soon I'm singing and waving my fingers. I still remember it so vividly. I fall asleep. I hadn't really slept the night before and I had been in such intense pain. On top of that the magnesium makes you feel awful and out of it. Besides that I think all of the pain meds decided to work all at once. It was great.

I remember waking up and being in and out of consciousness. I remember feeling like I need to push. My arms were so heavy. I couldn't reach or even find the nurses button to call. I pass back out. I wake up again feeling the urge to push. It must've been each contraction that I would wake up. Finally I need to push and bad. Lee and Jana walk in right on time. I mumble to them. Lee wants to get the nurse. I told him no, I'm okay. I did the same thing with Mackenzie and to my mom. Finally I told him to go get the nurse. He did. She checked me and said I was almost there.

The "mean" nurse then came in and wanted to argue with her telling her I wasn't ready. Ha. I proved her wrong. They're putting the bed together and 2 mins later I'm telling her I have to push and she checks me and starts rushing. She made some comment about how yup, it's time. This is all in a span of less than 5 mins. They're telling me not to push. Wait for the Dr. It's so hard not to push. I think around this time Lee's cellphone rang and it was my mom. I remember saying something to her on the phone. I was pretty incoherent.

I'm telling them I'm pushing and Lee is out of the door looking for Dr. Lile and he sees him running down the hall. Seriously he sits down I start pushing like all get out. He says "I see hair" and Lee looks down. He's so nervous and excited. One push later his head bloop bloop bloops out. Both Lee and Jana watch him enter this world. Dr. Lile told me to stop pushing he had to remove his shoulder. Wow. I could feel it. Highly uncomfortable and all I wanted to do was push that shoulder right out. Then the shoulder is freed and my son was born.

He sucked out the goo and laid him on me. He was so beautiful. He made a little cry. The nurses whisk him off to work on him and make sure he's okay. Our son was born 4 weeks early with fully developed lungs and was perfectly healthy. He scored great on both APGARs. The took him to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to be looked at. Lee left with him. Lee said that they wheeled him next to Kathryn's little girl who had been born at 29 weeks to a friend of mine and former co-worker. I still feel guilty to this day that she was due after me and had a sick little girl and our son was wheeled in next to her and we were told "what is this boy doing in here? He's perfectly healthy and fine".

We are so blessed. I have this little boy who for 3 years has brought me such joy. His presence has also brought me joy from Mackenzie. It's so wonderful and beautiful to see her with him. Yes, he does get on her nerves and she sometimes snaps at him but 99% of the time she is so wonderful to him. She shows him off and introduces him to everyone we meet. She takes his hand and shows him things that she is doing or looking at. She helps him color and loves it when he lays on her chest. He loves her and she loves him. It's a beautiful thing. I am savoring every moment of it. I know in a few years that will all change.

So, where were you December 21, 2004? I was experiencing the second most wonderful thing in my life. The birth of my son. And on September 19, 2000 I was experiencing the first most wonderful thing in my life. The birth of my daughter.