Speedy Delivery

Our sweet Adeline Lou Daniels arrived 5 days early on May 27, 2014 at 1:29 am.  She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz and was perfectly healthy and sweet.

 It was all a little rushed and frantic so I want to write the story down before I forget, feel free to skip to the pictures at the bottom.  :)

For the last month we have been doing our yard.  Sprinkler system, sod, flowers, trees, and garden.  Every time I was out working the neighbors would all come out and say "all this work is going to put you in labor!"  It never did though until we were completely done.  On Memorial Day we finished our final big yard project, getting the garden put in.

I had contractions the whole pregnancy and they slowly got stronger each day near the end so it was really hard to ever tell if I was going into labor.  Each night I'd always have a lot of contractions and they'd just stop when I went to bed so when I had a couple painful contractions Monday night I timed them and they weren't regular at all so we just went to bed.  Then at 12:25 I woke up during a contraction and ran to the bathroom, thinking it was a stomach bug that was coming fast.  It wasn't.  I must have been out of it because I should have recognized it as labor right away, but it took a couple contractions to get me in that mindset.  I called the hospital and while on the phone I got the chills and couldn't stop shaking, the nurse said to come right in because it sounded like I was in transition.

I hung up and stood up to go get my toiletries packed and my water broke.  At that point I got a little frantic, it was like I somehow knew that it was going to happen fast and if we didn't hurry I wouldn't get an epidural.  Zac called my dad and within about 3 minutes we were ready to leave.  It was about 12:55 at this point.  Things were getting bad really fast so we just left the garage open and took off before my dad got there, I'm sure glad we didn't wait, 5 minutes could have been a game changer.  I think Zac was confused because it went from nothing to me frantically telling him to drive as fast as possible, I'm sure he was thinking, "how could it have gotten that bad so fast?"  But when I had a few more bad contractions he didn't ask questions.  I had him call the hospital and tell them to get the anesthesiologist to my room ASAP (he was not there waiting, much to my dismay).  We were flying down yellowstone at 80mph and saw a cop and had to decide;  get pulled over and get an escort or slow down.  We decided to slow down because I thought it would be faster, again, good thing we did.

We got to the hospital, wheeled me to labor and delivery and I got my outfit on just in time to have a contraction and realize that it was time to push.  The nurse checked me and I was at a 10 and she rushed out to call the doctor.  She must have known that he wasn't going to make it because she started getting everything ready for the baby.   On my next contraction I did push and Zac and the nurse both happened to glance over and all I saw were 2 sets of huge eyes that said it all, they were looking at a crowning baby.  I looked at Zac and said "is the baby coming?" and he gave a big nod and a "yes."  I asked, already knowing the answer, "am I still going to get my epidural????"  The nurse said, "no, honey, this baby is coming right now."

I looked at one nurse to my right who looked nervous (she was a student, I later found out) and asked, "have you ever done this before? Can you help me???"  She just shook her head and pointed "no, but she has."  I was experiencing some mild to extremely severe self doubt at this point saying "I can't do this, I don't want to do this, it really hurts," and the other nurse took over.

 The nurse's name was Melissa too and she was so awesome.  She was calm and coached me through it all and really helped me stay slightly grounded.  She reassured me that, "yes, you can do this" and reminded me to breath and stay calm.  I squeezed Zac's hand and probably broke a few bones as he cheered me on.  On the next contraction Adeline graced us with her presence, 14 minutes after we arrived at the hospital.  Zac said she came out like a rocket and landed right on the table.  I was in shock and definitely thought "That was it?"  I was expecting to push forever and have the contractions get way worse, but it was over.  I think there were only 3 or 4 horrendous contractions and then she was here.  Our doctor showed up minutes later in time to congratulate us and stitch me up.

 I was amazed because all the pain completely stopped as soon as she was out.  Within an hour I was able to get up and take a shower without any help.  I think that this all natural thing might happen again if things are moving fast on the next one.   It's only been 5 days now and I am feeling almost completely recovered.  This recovery has been a night and day difference from the other two.  I'm sure part of it is that I have been much more active this time around, but skipping out on all the IVs and drugs and epidurals must have helped too.  

When I arrived there were no babies or laboring women in the hospital, but I was followed by EIGHTEEN women in the next 36 hours.  My nurse said that the full moon and weather change must have done it.  Pretty amazing.  I found out that the student nurse was ecstatic that she got to witness a "nurse delivery."  It was her last night with labor and delivery and she hadn't seen one yet.  So very happy to be of service.  :)

Zac and I were in shock for the first little bit that she was here.  Zac kept saying, "I can't believe you just did that!" and we both kept saying things along the lines of, "I can't believe she's here already, did that really just happen?"  After a little bit Zac said, "think how much money we'll save because we won't have to pay for the epidural!"  That was exciting news for both of us!  

The next morning Dad, Beth, and Rachel brought the kids over to meet Adeline.  She was with the nurse so we had to wait a few minutes for them to bring her.  Teagan and Eloise stood at the door looking up and down the halls waiting for her to come.

When Teagan saw them coming he was so overjoyed and excited.  Such a sweetheart!

Teagan couldn't stop giving her kisses and saying "I love her!"

Eloise was smitten from the beginning.  She wanted to be holding her the entire time and couldn't stop squealing and giggling every time Adeline moved.   Now that we're home, every time she walks in the door she exclaims, "where my baby is???" and goes right to finding her.

Zac amazed us all and went to work that day!  He had probably only gotten 5 hours of sleep total and most of that was in a fold out chair/bed at the hospital.   He is unstoppable.   He came over at lunch to check in on us and hung out with Adeline while I showered.  I came out and this is what I found.  He told me that he kept falling asleep in the normal chair and was afraid he would drop her so he laid down.  So sweet, he is such an awesome dad!

She is so cute!  She reminds me a lot of Eloise which made it very difficult to name her.  I kept calling her Eloise by mistake and thought, she looks like an "Eloise," how can I name her something else?"

Now she looks just like Addy Lou and has already become her own person.  We are so excited to see what she is like and get to know her.  She is already so pleasant and happy.

I am a mother of 3, crazy!  I will admit that having the two running around the hospital room while I was holding Adeline made me a little nervous to go home.  I said, "there are so many of them!  I have so many kids, what am I going to do?"  But it has been great.  Teagan is so helpful and easygoing and Eloise is happy to come hang out and be my "helper" for every diaper change, feeding, or snuggle.  I feel so blessed to have 3 healthy, beautiful, sweet children.  As was expected, my heart has grown and made plenty of room for our new little girl.