10 Years Ago . . .

May 11, 2000. A day that would change my life. It started 3 days earlier - May 8, 2000, my due date with my first child. I did not know what I was having, boy or girl, I was thrilled with either. I felt huge and uncomfortable, and ready to pop. I had my 40 week checkup and he agreed that I should come in at 6 pm the following night for an induction. May 9, 2000 I showed up ready for my induction. They put in the cervidil and I ate a light supper. I finally fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the night with contractions. They were becoming painful, so I told the nurse I wanted to rest in the Jacuzzi. A few hours later Jimmy was awake and we were in the shower and my light supper came back up. :(

May 10 I stayed at 1.5 centimeters all day. May 11 first thing in the morning the doctor came in and broke my water and let me have an epidural. By 6 or 7 pm that night I was at 10 centimeters, so the dr turned the epidural off and I began pushing. Immediately when I started pushing I sensed something was wrong. It felt like my hips were breaking. My pelvis felt like it was coming apart. I had read that when you are pushing you should feel the baby moving, but when I pushed I did not feel that baby going anywhere. When I complained to the dr, he tried to convince me that I was wrong, that everything was okay. I was insistent so he checked my cervix and it had swollen to 6.5 centimeters. :( It was determined that my baby was too big for my pelvis and I was prepped for a ceasarian section. During the c-section I discovered that I could feel the doctor cutting into me. The epidural that had been turned off for pushing was no longer sufficient for a c-section. They ended up putting me under general anesthesia and I had my baby while I was unconscious and while my husband was kicked out to the waiting room.

I woke up in the recovery room, groggy and not knowing whether my baby was male or female. The nurse in the recovery room told me that my husband wanted to be the one to tell me the gender. I waited and he came to me to tell me IT'S A GIRL!! :)

We were so excited about our precious baby. We were both really young and inexperienced but when they put that pink baby in my arms I fell in love!! I realized that this was what I was meant to do - be a mom.

It is hard for me to believe that it was 10 years ago. It's hard to believe that the baby that was handed to me 10 years ago has become this big beautiful wonderful smart daughter that I love so much. She is a precious precious gift to me. I cannot wait to see how she grows up and who she grows up to be!