9 Years Ago Today

Nine years ago right now, I was in, pretty much, the worst pain I have ever been in. I woke up at 2am March 29, 1999. I felt off and realized I was having contractions. I started writing them down, in fact, I still have the paper I wrote them down on. They weren't hurting me and they were still 7-10 minutes apart. I let Hubby sleep because I figured he would have to be awake soon enough. He was up around 7am and we called the doctor, who told us to come on in. We were delivering at Sacred Heart in Eugene, OR. I had been a regular near there a few years earlier. It's a mere block or so away from the University.

I was admitted and they checked how far along I was. I was a mere 1cm. What a total bummer. I had watched enough Baby Stories on TLC to know that I wouldn't be offered the joy of an epidural until I was 4cm along. We wandered the halls for a while, until my pain got worse. I laid in bed then and by 8pm, they checked me again and found I was only 1/2 a cm further along. What a disappointment. They offered to let us go home and come back later. By then I was totally suffering and I said, NO WAY!! They gave me a shot of morphine and took the monitors off to let me rest. Hubby curled up in the pull out couch and we tried to rest. The morphine kept me loopy enough to not realize what was happening. I thought I was sleeping between contractions, but all I was cognizant of was that I was climbing out of bed, whimpering and then climbing back into bed. 90 minutes later hubby went out to the nurses' station and told them they had to do something. The nurse came back in to check and said, I don't feel a cervix here. In my haze, I thought, you idiot, I am a girl, I have a cervix. Then I realized I was done!! Yeah!! Then the thought of pushing for a couple hours was enough to make me want to cry. The nurse let me know I could still have an epidural because the doctor had 2! emergency c-sections before she could get to me.

I love the epidural doctor. I was in so much pain that the needle in the back was a new and pleasant sensation. I drifted in and out of consciousness, just waiting for the time. But then! I felt a new pressure. I needed to push. I told the nurse this and she said I was going to have to wait. My legs were starting to shake and she was ready to come out.
This is where I excel. I pushed baby girl out in less than 20 minutes. Now it comes down to 24 hours worth of labor, 8-10 hours of excruciating pain and the first thing I said was make sure she's still a girl. I wanted a girl so bad. Thank heavens I didn't have to tell them to put him back. She was a bouncing baby girl. 19 inches, 8lbs 10 1/2 ounces. She was alert and I recognized her. When they gave her to me I thought, oh it's you! She was an expert nurser too! The next day we took her home. We all fell sleep around 10pm and then I woke up in a panic at 5:30am! She hadn't woken up all night. She slept through the night the very first night!! That didn't last but she was a perfect little kid. Hubby and I continually congratulated ourselves on what great parents we were. This lasted until Fiona was born.
Buttercup is turning 9!! I can't believe I have a kid that old. I feel so old! She's a great kid. Especially since Fiona got sick, we have had more quality time together and she has been a happy haven during rough times. The night Fiona was first admitted, we picked her up to come and see her sister at 11pm that night. She brought along a bag of magic tricks and proceeded to entertain and make us laugh during one of our darkest times.
Happy Birthday dear Princess Buttercup.