A look back

I have found myself getting a little overwhelmed with nostalgia of what my life was like this week last year. It was definitely much crazier than I could have ever imagined this week being. For one, my little baby wasn't even due for another 5 weeks! That in itself is enough to totally rock a person's world when you think you still have 5 weeks to plan for this little one and all of the sudden bam...oh, now you only have a few days. So I wanted to reflect a bit for my own sake the ride that last year took us on starting on the night of February 6, 2006.

February 6th, Heath and I finished are breastfeeding class with our good friends Amanda and Curtis, as if there could be a more awkward situation to be in! We went home and I decided to rest on the couch and watch Survivor. Throughout the show, I noticed that I was having some interesting cramping feelings. I started to keep track of it in my head without telling Heath because I didn't want to be over dramatic (which is something he is constantly accusing me of, why, I have no idea) since Ella was not due for 5 more weeks. About 11:00 p.m., I told Heath what I had been feeling. We decided to try to lay down and relax and see if the contractions would go away because that is what "they" tell you to do. Well, the contractions continued to get worse and more often. So at about 1:30A.M. we headed for the hospital. They admitted us and called our doctor. He told the nurse to give me medicine through my IV to relax the uterus and hopefully stop the contractions. Sure enough, it worked! They sent us home at about 4:30A.M.

As I fell asleep that morning, thank You for Ambien the nurse sent me home with, I sighed a sigh of relief thinking we had dodged that premature bullet and I would be thankful that I still have the next 5 weeks to prepare at least one thing for the baby.
Obviously, the medicine didn't last long because the next day at 11:00A.M. they started again. This time they were even stronger. At noon on February 7th we headed back up to the hospital. They admitted us again and started me on the same medicine that they had given me the night before. Dr. Clark came to let us know that I was definitely in active labor but he wants to try to hold off the delivery until I was at 36 weeks. He doesn't like to deliver a baby at 35 weeks. He sent me home that evening at about 7:00p.m. with the oral form of medicine they were giving me through my IV. And he put me on bed rest until I was 36 weeks. (My good friend Sunni, who was also on bed rest at the time just wrote a hilarious entry about what it's like to be on bed rest.) At which time (36 weeks) he would also take me off the medicine that is stopping my contractions. WHAT?! Didn't he know I was willing to stay on this medicine for 5 more weeks! Take me off the medicine?! Didn't he know that I still hadn't had a single one of my baby showers, that I had a nursery that was still in the form of my husband's office, that I wasn't mentally prepared for a baby yet, THAT I STILL HAD NOT TAKEN MY BABY BISICS CLASS AND HAD NO IDEA HOW TO CARE FOR A BABY!!!!!! AHHHH!!!

(deep breath)

Our Sovereign God always has a plan and it is always perfect because the instant I stopped taking that medicine my body went into full blown contractions and the sweetest creation was born at 3:32p.m. on February 15th! At that time, everything came together. I was able to make it to one of my showers the week of my bedrest. The other one, my church shower, my amazing friends rescheduled and Ella was able to go with me to that one which was so fun. My husband and my mother totally transformed Heath's office into a beautiful nursery the week of my bed rest and we had everything we needed to care for this precious baby when we brought her home from the hospital. And now I'm going to have myself a cry for the amazing time this week was last year and for my baby girl turning one in 2 days!


4 lbs 15 ounces