My side of the story...It's a long one

I've been wanting to do this for a while...

The birth of our Daughter Teagan through my experience.

It was a beautiful, sunny, Sunday in May. May 5th to be exact, Cinco de Mayo. I was feeling a little queasy and realized that I very well could be pregnant. I took a pregnancy test and was prepared to wait the 5 minutes that the directions state. Imagine my surprise when 2 pink lines popped up immediately! Yikes, what was I going to do? Is this test giving me a false positive? I’ve always wanted to have a baby, but, am I ready to be a Mom, Mommy, Mother? Where is Todd, oh yeah, he went to get some pizza. What could be taking him so long, Steph is on her way over to keep me from hyperventilating, breathe, Jennifer, breathe. Todd walked in, pizza in hand, to a sobbing girlfriend. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “It’s POSITIVE! You need to go buy another test; this one has to be old!” In walks Steph to a confused Todd and hysterical Jenny. “Steph, this can’t be right, is it?” “Jiffy, you’re going to be a mommy!” I don’t believe her or the test, so Todd went out and purchased another. Sure enough instantaneously Pregnant appears on the screen (Todd purchased that one to eliminate all doubt in my mind). How I had so wanted to see that word, such a special word, one word that changes the world. Oh my, what to do, what to do? Steph leaves us to ourselves to enjoy the rest of our evening. What a quiet evening that was. We were going to become parents, to a little person growing inside of me. There are few things as special as being with the love of your life and realizing that you both had a hand in creating a miracle.

Our little miracle was pretty easy on me during my pregnancy. I was queasy for the first trimester, but, fortunately, no sickness! I didn’t have any particularly weird cravings. I did have horrific heart-burn…so, yes, I consumed quite a large quantity of pickles and ice cream…never at the same time though.

20 weeks, ooh, we get to have our ultrasound!!!! Now, that was something. I hadn’t felt any movement, or realized what I was feeling was movement, so seeing this baby on the screen was surreal. Like nothing I had ever witnessed before. To see this baby so active and with a face and two little feet and two little hands and that heart, just beating away! Amazing. “Do you want to know the sex?” the technician asked. “Oh, yes, please. If the baby cooperates.” The technician pointed out certain parts and I said, “A little GIRL!” Oh, another sweet, special moment for Todd and me. We had, so far, a healthy little girl that in 5 short months would be with us! Oh, so much to do, so little time. Never before had that phrase held the meaning that it did at that moment.

I had been planning on working up until I went into labor. Our little girl was due on January 11, 2009.

Then on December 5, 2008 Todd had taken the day off of work, because we had a doctor’s appointment. I had told our Doctor that I wanted to have our baby in 2008, I wanted the tax deduction. She told us that perhaps on December 26th she would think about inducing labor, the baby would be 38 weeks then and would be considered to be full term. We were very excited about that. When I got home from work Todd took me out to dinner to Chippoletti’s in Loveland. I had a very long week at work and Italian food usually perked me up. This night was no exception. We had a great meal and then went home and played our wii video game. Bowling to be more precise, up down, up down. I was on the phone off and on with my family all night, while playing video games; because I had thought I lost my mucus plug…sorry for the sensitive ones. Todd tried to convince me I had not. John and Sarah were telling me that I shouldn’t get my hopes up of a soon delivery, because those plugs, can be tricky little things. My mom had no clue what it was…We were in the dark. Great. There is nothing more frustrating than not knowing when something is going to happen. Especially when you are a control freak like I am! “Oh well” I thought. I went to bed and Todd stayed up. I woke up about 1:30 am on Saturday morning to go to the bathroom. I rolled over, oh God, it’s wet. Did I pee the bed? Continue rolling to get out of bed, God, am I still peeing? It doesn’t feel like I’m peeing! Waddle to the bathroom. I did my business and realized, Holy Crap, I think my water broke! Waddle to the stairs while trying to clean up the mess I was making…and started yelling for Todd. “Honey, you need to call the Dr., I think my water broke.” “You’re water didn’t break,” he said to me. “You don’t believe me, you can come down here and take a look yourself” was my reply to that. I finally convinced Todd to call the Dr. and she said to come on in to the emergency room and they would get me taken care of. So, there I am, standing around, wondering what to wear, nothing fit!!! So I donned a pair of Todd’s extra large sweatpants, a horrible T-shirt and a sweatshirt. I was standing around brushing my teeth, watching Todd race around frantically getting dressed, packing a bag. Finally, we get into the car and start heading towards the hospital. We walk into the emergency room and I was put promptly in a wheel chair, got all checked in and then a couple of nurses escorted us up to the maternity ward. One of the nurses did a test to see if it was amniotic fluid. As the nurse was walking out, Todd asked her, “Are we going to have a baby today?” And the nurse just said, “We’ll see.” Imagine trying to stay calm…we did the best we could. About 20 minutes later the nurse came back in and said, “We’re moving you into a birthing suite.” Oh my, this is really happening. So, at 3:30 am December 6th, Todd sent out a text to everyone, letting them know that we were at the hospital and would be expecting our little girl at some point that day (we had learned from our child birth class that once your water breaks the doctors and nurses will make sure the baby is delivered within the next 24 hours, so the risk of infection is not as great.) The nurse got Todd and I situated in the room and said for us to try and get some sleep. Ya, right. Todd and I watched some T.V. for a while and we were watching Conan O’Brien and he had some bit on there about toys that are inappropriate for children. One of the toys was a woman giving birth, you push her stomach and a baby comes flying out! Ha ha. It was very funny at the time. Todd did get some sleep, but I was too anxious about the events to come. Would it hurt, will the baby be OK? There was some serious pondering and praying going on, because well, our baby was coming 5 ½ weeks earlier than she should be! Will her lungs be OK? Oh my. At 7:00 am the nurse came in and said for Todd to order me some breakfast as they were going to start inducing my labor at 9:00 (I was not having contractions yet, at all!) Then the family started to arrive, Bob, Tammi, Mick and Peggy, Bruce and Steph and Joe, Bruce and Georgianna. At 9:00 I got pitocin, at 11:00 I got my epidural. Epidurals are wonderful creations of science. I could not feel anything. I could not even move my legs! The family was standing around watching the contraction monitor, that’s how I knew how big they were! Again, I cannot praise the effects of an epidural shot enough. Now, at 8:00 am I was dilated 2cm, at 1:30 I was at 9.5cm. It was time to kick everyone but Todd and Georgianna (mom) out of the room. Now, I find it extremely amazing how quickly that room went from being nice and cozy, to being this bright, sterile environment, bustling with activity from all corners of the room! Efficiency at its best I suppose. Yikes, what happens now?!?! Push? I’ve never done this before, are you sure she’ll be able to get out, that’s a small exit? Push with the contractions? I don’t even feel them! Oh dear, you’ll tell me when to push, OK good, now I don’t need to think about that, one less thing. Push, push, push, push. Good job. Push, push, push, push. Good job. Push, push, STOP PUSHING! What?!?! Are you insane why am I…crying? I hear crying too…PUSH? OK, you’re the expert. Push, and there is a beautiful baby girl lying on my chest, I didn’t feel that, impressive. She’s cold and scared and red and absolutely perfect. She has a dimple on her left cheek. Where did that come from, oh yeah, her daddy has the same dimple. Look at how tiny she is…and she’s gone. Just to another section of the room. Todd is torn; does he stay with me or go to his daughter? Go to her, I’ve got Mom, I’m fine, I’m an emotional basket case. I hear wailing, she’s scared and cold. Oxygen, wash down, weight and length checked. Oh, they opened the curtain; I can see what they are doing now. She’s 18 ½ inches long. She weights 5 pounds 3.9 ounces. She is small, but she’s perfect! Oh, the doctor is done with me; the doctors are almost done with her. The room is starting to morph back into its comfy cozy self again. I get to hold my daughter; I get to finally HOLD Teagan Marie. It’s a perfect fit, so natural. Oh, she is so sweet. The family comes back into the room. They are in awe, some remembering when they became parents themselves; some wondering was this really what life’s all about?

There is no greater joy in the world than becoming a parent. You think you know what unconditional love is, but you don’t know until you become a parent. You love your siblings, nieces and nephews with all of your heart and soul, and yet when the child is yours, that love is compounded and you wonder how your heart can hold all of that love, and yet, it is there everyday, growing, growing, growing.