And Now You Are Eleven...

It's Birthday Number 2 today! My sweet baby girl is 11. Sigh. I just cannot believe it. Seriously guys. I know that my oldest is 15 1/2, but for some reason, in my sentimental head, my little girl isn't supposed to grow up! My mom, Girly Girl's Nanny, called her this morning, and had the nerve to say "only 2 more years and you'll be a teenager!" Excuse me!! No way! Mikayla's original due date was December 23. She was born just one day before that. The DiSH worked nights at the time, and he was nervous about me being home alone with a 4 year old, so after the weekend, that first Monday night, I spent at my mom's house, sleeping in my old bedroom. My sister was home from college, and her boyfriend was there as well. When Joey (aka Mr. Smarty Pants!) woke up at 6am, I didn't have to get up with him because he had his Nanny and his aunt and uncle to feed him, play with him, and entertain him! I woke up at 7am, feeling something different. Hmmm. Laying there for the next 30 minutes, timing the contractions, I realized I had slept the best I had in a really long time. The phone was next to my bed, so at 7:30am, I called my sweet hubby who was at home sleeping alone in our bed after a night at work. When the phone rang, he answered it right away, and said, "having contractions?" So smart. He showered, and rushed the 10 miles to my mom's house. By then, I had gone down to the kitchen, where my family was. When I refused breakfast, and said that I was going to take a shower and that Andy was on his way, my mom went into motion. "You're in labor? Are you okay? What do you need?" And the questions continued! Finally, an hour and a half after feeling the first contraction, Andy was driving me to the hospital. It was snowing a little, and the roads were icy. But as always, I felt safe with him behind the wheel. But the contractions....oh man. They worsened at a very fast rate. I couldn't sit very well. I was gripping the handle of the car door with all my might. I managed to walk into the birthing center, and it only took a second for a nurse to see why I was there! It was a small little hospital, and only one other baby was being born at the time. The nurse told me she would "check" me and make sure it was not a false alarm before proceeding. I said with great determination, "oh, it's no false alarm!" Two minutes later, her eyes grew big as she said, "you're at 7cm already!" This was at 9:15am. The doctor was called, and things were set into motion. My family arrived, and settled into the waiting room for what they thought would possibly be a day's wait. My father is a truck driver, and was on the road. Both sisters arrived, and Joey was with them. My mom and Andy were with me. I remember one moment of telling my mom I just couldn't do it. Because I was so far along, it was too late for ANY pain medication or an epidural. This was happening, completely naturally! Within an hour, I was 10cm. I told the nurse I would be pushing now. She said "no, wait! the doctor is almost here!" I guess she didn't want to deliver a baby that day! It didn't make me very happy to be told "no, don't push." So, I did anyway. A few minutes later, my doctor walked in. "Are we having a baby today?!" Why do doctors think it's funny to say stuff like that to a woman trying to push a bowling ball out!! And with no pain meds either. I pushed for a bit, and then it was recognized that Mikayla was under stress. Each time I pushed, her heartbeat dropped. She was also a big baby, close to 10 lbs. was the estimate. I was given two choices. #1, push for 2 or more hours, monitoring the baby closely, or choice #2, have her "vacuumed" out. In our birthing class, I remembered being shown the apparatus that would be used to suction the baby out. It had exactly that on one end, a big suction cup. It would suction to the baby's head, placed there by the doctor, and then a hand-pump would be worked by the nurse, and I would push along with the vacuuming. Sounds so nice, huh?!! I asked my doctor how long that would take. Five minutes or so was her answer. Two hours of pushing, or five minutes of suctioning?! Hmmm.....you probably can guess what I chose. It was the most painful thing I have EVER experienced. Sorry for the graphics, but this is part of the story! My doctor slowly put the suction cup in place on the baby's head, going north way too far!! I couldn't make a sound, it hurt so much. And then she said "push, and DON'T stop". No counting to 10 and then getting a break, uhuh. So I pushed. And tried not to scream. I vaguely remember the nurse standing to the left of my doctor, working that pump. My mom was there still, and of course, Andy. My doctor was so calm, and it was looking staring into her eyes as she said "good, good, good...." over and over that got me through not the next five, but SIX minutes. And then she was born. A healthy 9 lb. 4 and 3/4 ounce baby girl! It was 10:42am, 3 hours and 42 minutes total time of labor and delivery! Once things settled down, big brother joined us and met his new baby sister. I began to relax, and at noon, realized I wasn't really that tired, just worn out. The DiSH and I had our celebration dinner, candles and sparkling cider, while my sister rocked my new baby in the corner of the room! We went home the next day, now with two days to finish the last few things I needed to do for Christmas. Mikayla Alexis is such a sweet baby girl. So helpful, thoughtful, kind, considerate, smart, loving, selfless, a child of the King. For 9 years we would feel blessed to have one of each. But by reading my last couple of posts, you know how things changed!! So here are a few pictures that I scanned this morning, from 11 years ago or so. Thank you for reading my 2nd birthday story of the week!

Only minutes old....

one month old...

6 months old...

1 year old...

8 years old...

11 years old!

I love you my Girly Girl.

We are going out for supper tonight, just the girls. Can't wait!!!