The Anniverary of the Happiest Day of Our Lives

A year ago today, I was up at 5:00, packed and ready to leave for the hospital to await the arrival of our baby boy. I woke up calm, relaxed, and anxious. "Naive" is more like it. I was excited, and never had one worry. To me, I was just "having a baby." In my mind, I was going to the hospital, getting and IV, and was going to push something the size of a watermelon out of my body. I was NOT having a c-section. Nope! Not me! Yes, that's naive, because through all of the monitor replacements, continuous monitoring of my blood pressure, placement of oxygen, placement of cranial monitor on baby's head, because they kept loosing his heart beat, I never had a worry in the world. My nurses were wonderful. I was clueless and naive. After being in labor with Mills for 8 hours, he had only dropped 3 stations, and I was at 8cm. In my mind, I thought, only 2 more to go, and we'll be ready. Little did I know that every other time I had a contraction, Mills' heart beat would drop. It appeared that he was laying in a position that was not compatible to my contractions. My stomach would contract, pinch the cord, and cause the flow of oxygen to decrease. So, off to the operating room, this nauseous pregnant momma went....for a c-section. I can remember being rolled down the hall way, feeling sick and having the worst convulsive shakes ever! I was shaking so bad that the back of my neck tensed up, and I felt like I was in a gigantic freezer with a bunch of lights. The anesthesiologist kept asking, "Are you okay? Can I get you anything?" "I'm just so cold!" I kept saying. He said, "Honey, I know you're uncomfortable, but they are going to put you on something like an ironing board, and it may not get any better." "Great!", I thought!

I kept waiting on Dr. W to tell me that they we're getting ready to start, but then as I looked up to Erik with both cameras in hand, I heard, "Oh! He's got mommy's button nose!" What? I had no idea that my baby boy was finally out of my belly. I can't tell you how groggy I was! Those meds took a toll on my brain, but I couldn't wait to see him!!! Then, I heard the sweetest cry in the world....

*Here is a small clip of video that was taken after Mills' birth. I had the intention of posting this last year while we were still in the hospital, but was too busy, tired, and sore to figure it out. So, we decided to save it for his first birthday. *If you choose, you may scroll to the bottom of the blog, and pause the music, although I'm sure his cries can be heard with out the pause!