A Sweet Baby Girl and A Necklace From Tiffany & Co.

What more could a girl ask for? Oh yes, an epidural would have been nice. But apparently it was not in my cards. This happened last time. Bloody hell!

I know your all dying to hear the gory details of my labor, maybe not but your going to get them anyway. Besides, it's not a long story. On 11-15-05 at around 10 am I started having contractions. They were weak but consistently 25-30 minutes apart. I had a doctor's appointment at 2 so I decided to keep timing them. By the time I arrived at the doctor's office they were about 15-20 minutes apart. He checked me out and I was dilated to about 3.5. He told me not to drive back to Nampa (this is where we live, about 20-30 minutes from the hospital). He suggested I take a walk and when the contractions were consistently 7-8 minutes apart to go to the hospital and get checked in.

Since Brian and I work together (have I ever mentioned that we work together? Um, we do). Anyway, since Brian and I work together, about 5 minutes from the hospital we decided he would go back to work and I would walk the building with my friend. I walked about 45 minutes and went to get Brian. We needed to leave.

We arrived at the hospital around 4 pm. I told the nurses I desperately wanted an epidural. My contractions hurt like hell and I was in immense pain. They sort of dilly dallied at first. I don't think they thought I was very far along. I had told them I was at the doctor's office two hours ago and dilated to about 3.5. I think they figured I had time. The nurse checked me out. I was dilated to 7. For those of you who have never had babies, you only have to get to ten before the baby is ready. They put me on the fast track to getting an epidural.

I admit, I was a total wuss about the whole thing. I complained and semi yelled at the nurses. I told them it hurt and I wanted the epidural. They set me up in the delivery room and told me they were getting it as soon as they could. Then the feeling came on that I was dreading. The feeling that I needed to push. I knew it was too late for that stupid epidural I so desperately wanted. I told those nurses I needed to push and they said the words I did not want to hear, "just wait a minute". Excuse me, but it doesn't seem to be up to me at this point. I don't want to wait, I can't wait. I need to push and someone better get over here so that I can push. They expected me to wait for the doctor. Brian wanted me to wait for the doctor. He later told me he didn't want the nurse to deliver our baby. I guess she seemed nervous.

My doctor finally came in the door. I was so relieved to see him and a little pissed off. I really wanted that epidural. He was the only one in the room that said it was okay to push, so he was my favorite at that point. He also told me if I pushed good and hard it would only take one contraction and I would be done. That sounded like a good idea. It was actually a lot easier for him to say than for me to do. I pushed and it hurt so bad I thought I was going to pass out. I pushed the second time and I told him I was done. I can't take it anymore. I thought at this point I might die. It's happened before. Women have died while giving birth. I thought this was then end for me. He told me one more good push and it would be over. That motivated me a bit. I didn't not want to go through this horrible agony one minute longer. I pushed and when I was done I told him I wasn't going to push anymore. That's it, I was done. He told me it was over, I don't need to do anything. I have a baby girl.

Next thing I know Brian is on the phone with his mom and the nurse was giving me this little purple-colored person to hold. I was still a little bitter about not getting the epidural and I was at a point I didn't want to hold her. She laid on my chest for a few minutes and my anger passed and I was so happy to see that I had a perfect little girl, with a ton of dark brown hair. They offered to put some drugs in my IV and I accepted. May as well get something out of it, right? Plus, while the nurses were cleaning up Brian gave me my "I just went through excruciating pain and had a baby" present. He gave me my first Tiffany & Co. necklace. I love it!!! I love Tiffany & Co. and have asked every year on both Christmas and my birthday for something from there. Finally!! Of course, I better not have to give birth again to get something else. Otherwise, this will be my only necklace. :(

Our little Jillian Carol Louise was born at 4:37 pm (remeber the time I arrived at the hospital, 4 pm, yeah, it only took 37 minutes. The worse 37 minutes of my entire life.) She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. if you also remember it was predicted that she was already at 7 lbs. I am so glad my doctor was wrong. I don't know how I would have survived a 7 lb baby. She is my smallest baby and she is my sweetest baby. She never fusses and she doesn't cry for more than a few minutes. She is perfect. Okay, I'm totally biased but she is so easy to love.

I have a few pictures posted so go take a look. I also posted a picture of me in final days of pregnancy. I don't look too horrible. Right now, I look pretty horrible, but I'm sure this too will pass.