Rebekah's now SIX!

Oh my - Sept has been whirlwind!  I have had so much reflective time!  But for now...I'm going to share Rebekah's birthstory, as scrawled in a little notebook.  I attempted to keep a "baby journal"...yeah...it didn't last too terribly long.  While I'm a huge fan of journaling, I get impatient hand writing things.  I can at least keep up with my thoughts when I'm typing - that is NOT the case when I'm handwriting stuff!

Without further ado...

November 2, 2005

This is the first time I've managed to have a pen, the journal and time.  All three things are hard to come by at once.

Filling out the paperwork!

Rebekah is now 5 weeks 5 days old.  Even though the delivery is blurry, I wish to write as much as I do remember.

The contractions felt like horrible cramps.  My monitor was not placed correctly and so they weren't showing up on the machine.  Oops.  Let me back up a minute.

Thurs afternoon I had a weekly check up.  The nurse took my blood pressure and it was a bit high.  I had woken up from a nap earlier in the week swollen like a marshmallow.  These factors combined with my borderline gestational diabetes, the doc decided induction was the best course of action.  So like a good little patient I reported to the hospital at 6:00 AM the next morning.  I had my first contraction around 8:00 AM.  mid day I decided if the contractions were that painful and not registering, then I wanted an epidural.  Thank goodness Dr. Z said I could have it whenever I wanted.  The nurse and resident physician tried to talk me out of it.  About the time I started feeling really bad (nausea and intense pain). They came in to give it to me.  William said I was looking really bad just before I got it.

An epidural is an interesting sensation.  My legs felt numb but I could still move them.  I felt pressure as well.  After a bit it wore off on one side and I could feel the contractions on one side of my body. I ended up having a second dose because this.

Post-epidural I dozed until it was time to push.  Pushing feels similar to constipation...kind of like when you feel you need to go but you can't seem too.  The only difference is it is more intense.

William held one leg and a nurse (who was on hte phone nearly the entire time) held the other.  At one point, Dr. Z told my mom to take over for the nurse, which I think offended the nurse.  Also present was the resident and two guys who I have no idea who they were.  So much for modesty!

Totally out of it!

I remember seeing the feet and Dr. Z saying he was rubbing the baby to stimulate it.  I anxiously awaited for that beautiful cry. Then William said "It's a girl!"  I was shocked.  I thought for sure I was having a boy.  Of course I'm absolutely delighted with Rebekah.  She is the cutest baby.  Dr. Z asked me what boy name we had chosen.  I said "Ezekiel Dan".  He said "Thank goodness it was a girl!"  HA!

As I tried to nurse the first time I told this brand new little person that I was new at being a mom and she was new at being a kid...so maybe together we can be the best we know how and forgive each other of mistakes along the way.

I can't believe my baby is SIX!  I can't believe it has been six years since I stared at that little baby and became a mother.  It has been a wild roller coaster full of twists, turns and surprises.