One Year Ago.....

One year ago today, about 20 minutes before now (it is 8:13am) they finally broke my water. They had been trying to induce labor for almost two days at that point. While there was nothing wrong with the baby, my blood pressure was high enough that they had decided to induce me before it went high enough to be dangerous.

So, the doctor came in, told me that even though the baby wasn't officially far enough down that he thought we should break my water. He explained that since they had been working at inducing me for over 24 hours, that we only had so much time before they would have to decide to do a c-section. Since everyone knew I really didn't want a c-section, he suggested that we break my water and see if that convinced the baby to drop. So, a long piece of wire with a hook on the end came out and a few minutes later we had the huge whoosh, and Maddy dropped into the perfect position.

The doctor said he would be back in an hour to see what she was doing, and that we would come up with a "game-plan" at that point. I could already feel things moving along, so I called Michael and told him that it was time to head up. He wanted to drop the kids off at school, come see how I was doing, and then go back and pick them up. I told him that wouldn't work, to just bring the kids and get up here.

(The twins were disappointed not to get to go to school, since they had their April's Fool joke all worked out. They were wearing shirts with their sister's name on it and were going to try to switch classes. Michael told them to switch shirts back and get in the car. When they realized it was because Maddy was coming, they complied without much arguing!)

By the time they got to the hospital I was in active transition. They had checked me at an hour and I was already dilated to almost 9 cm. The kids went for a little walk with my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Greg, who were there as support people for the kids. Everyone was hoping I could wait until after 10:45, when my doctor had his last clinic appointment for the morning. (This was about 9:30, so it wasn't that much longer.)

My mom called about that time and I told her if she wanted to be here for this birth, she had better get going. She still had about 20 minutes left in the class she was teaching, but said she would leave as soon as it got out. When she got off the phone her students convinced her to go, that they would be good. It is good she left when she did. She literally got there about 15 minutes before Maddy came out, and just as I started getting positioned to start pushing.(Thanks to all the students who were good kids so my mom felt like she could leave!)

The birth itself wasn't too eventful. The doctor got there a little after 11:00 am. The kids all got settled on a bench to the side of the room. The nurses all got me in position, and they added a little more medication to my epidural. (I almost didn't get an epidural, but decided that since the older kids were going to be there that it would be better to not have them have to deal with all the yelling that would have come with doing it all natural.) Michael got pulled in and told to hold a leg. They made sure all of the right tools were at hand, and Carey Winkler, my doc, came in and got all the right kinds of gloves on.

By then I was ready to push, and kept asking if I could. Everyone told me to wait. (The fact that the twins had been one push each was definitely a factor in the decision to not let me "practice" pushing at all.) Finally we were ready to push, and I started bearing down. Halfway through the push the Carey told me to stop. He told me not to push anymore until he told me. They tried pushing Maddy back in to get teh cord off from around her head, but she wasn't going back, so they snipped the cord, and then told me I could push again.

It only took one more push. (My body seems to be good at the pushing part.) The doctor almost dropped Maddy. (Thank goodness they have the plastic sheeting that has a lip at the end to catch slippery babies that are shooting out of their mommas.) She came out quickly, and the older kids were very excited.

The next half hour is a little blurry. I know I held Maddy. I know that they finished delivering the afterbirth and got Maddy bundled up and under a warmer. I remember seeing all the kid and Michael huddled around Maddy, talking about hair and toes and fingers.

A little later the kids went down to get some lunch. I rested for a while as the Neonatal doctor came to make sure everything was good with Maddy. (She was grunting some, and they were
deciding if she needed to be in the NICU or not.) I pumped, since the didn't want Maddy to nurse until they had decided where she was going. I had a sandwich which tasted fabulous!!

Eventually they decided that Maddy could stay in the room with me, and that they would just check on her a little more regularly, and if something changed they would put her in the NICU then. I was grateful that she never did have to go to the NICU, although she did end up under the billi-lights because she was jaundiced.

Maddy was the first of my kids who knew how to latch on and nurse at birth. She was a natural. She got tired nursing, so we would have her nurse, then have her take some pumped milk from the bottle. She sometimes coughed a little bit when she was eating, but they said it wasn't anything to worry about.

As I look back, it is amazing to me that none of the problems that would eventually lead to Maddy's hospitalizations, the feeding tube, the team of specialists, and the on-going work with Occupational Therapy, were in evidence when she was born. They worries they had at that point weren't ever problems, and the challenges that Maddy would have later were not even a blip on the concern radar. Even the coughing while eating, which we would eventually learn was because she has a short palate, didn't seem to be anything more than a perfect new baby who was learning to nurse.

Despite all of the challenges since Maddy was born, I consider her to be a HUGE blessing in our lives. I am grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to our family, and I know that she loves us, we love her, and she is in the right place.

It has been quite a year, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!! Well, I have a birthday girl who is tired on Momma typing. I hope that aren't too many issues with the post, cause I am not gonna have a chance to check it. My birthday girl needs snuggles!