On Sunday, February 22 (the same day we took the one and only baby bump picture) we went to church as normal. We had plans to go out the next day to celebrate Carl's birthday with the kids. But after just one hour of pod leading in the nursery (which is not normally an exhausting event), I told him I thought she could be coming in the next few days and that I wasn't sure I could handle going as planned for his birthday.
As it turns out, six hours later my contractions were close enough to start timing. And for the next few hours Carl started telling me that we needed to find some one to watch the boys and I kept telling him I didn't know if it was real. There were two days, the 23rd and 24th, that we really didn't have a good back up plan for our boys if she came early. Thankfully God had it under control. My sister and her boyfriend were in the area at his parents house and had decided to stay an extra night. So Carl finally convinced me to at least ask if her phone would be on and if we could call if needed. Carl kept telling me to have them come right away. I kept telling her we probably wouldn't need them because I didn't think it was real. I finally gave in and told her they should come and spend the night just in case so they wouldn't have to come and drive later. Then around midnight my water broke and I finally believed we were really going to meet our baby girl soon. And Carl was probably thinking, "Um, yeah. I've been telling you this for hours." :-)
So I told my sister she needed to come now and Carl loaded up the car. Which by the way, we couldn't do before because I hadn't packed yet. The funny thing is, I kept saying I thought she might be early, but I really didn't think she'd be that early. And when you have a scheduled date, it's easier to just assume that's when it will happen.
I had to wait awhile in labor at the hospital and couldn't have any pain meds. So to those of you who voluntarily choose not to get epidurals, I applaud you. I wanted one so badly and I didn't even have to go the whole time. At around 3:15 we went back to the OR to meet our daughter. And our beautiful Aria Grace was born at 3:53 am on February 23. She was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 20 inches long.
Our hospital stay was much different this time as we were figuring out where our boys could be. But we have amazing friends who volunteered to help and we are so thankful for them. Our friend Nicole stayed with them Monday night and they spent a lot of Tuesday with our friends Marcus and Aanna (who took on five children three and under for us including their girls!) Tuesday night my parents came and stayed with them the rest of the time. Wednesday we were able to get a lot of rest at the hospital and had a "hospital date night". Let me tell you what. Hospital date nights are not as relaxing as they sound. :-) We were just going to watch Survivor and eat ice cream. But as soon as it started a nurse came into check on Aria and give her a shot. So we realized quickly that we couldn't watch a show without a rewind button. So we found something on the ipad and were interrupted almost right away so that I could be given a shot. I also had to get up and walk for awhile in the middle. We loved our nurse that night and she was hilarious, so it was ok. We forgive her. Also, no one has ever given me a shot that didn't hurt before. Maybe it was because I was already drugged with pain meds, but it was great.
Anyway, here are a few pictures from the hospital. I will post more when I have a chance. We have hundreds. :-)
Aria, we love you so much! Thank you for coming when you did. I have loved every extra moment of time I've had with you. You are such a gift!
And it was fun to have a calendar reminder for my c-section pop up on my phone while I was already holding her!
No comments:
Post a Comment