Turn Baby Turn!

On Friday, June 4th, my day went on pretty much how they always did throughout the last few weeks of my pregnancy.  I woke up, worked for a while (from the chair in our family room), laid down for a bit, worked some more and waited patiently for Jake to come home from work so we could begin our weekend!  I had been to the doctor that Tuesday (June 1st) where I was NOT dilated but to maybe a half a centimeter...so the doctor said there was no chance a baby was coming anytime soon.  They did however tell me that this little guy was probably "not so little" and breech...awesome.  I was so upset because at that point, they were talking about scheduling a c-section, which I did not want to do.  I wanted the whole experience...the waking up at 3 in the morning, water breaking, running around, hurry to the hospital...I wanted it all. 

So, we decided that we would try everything we could to get this baby to turn.  That include going into the hospital the next day (Wednesday, June 2nd) for an external version - we're going to turn this baby!  Literally, that is what Jake sang to my belly - turn baby turn.

We packed up and headed to the hospital that morning.  The doctor said to have our bags packed just in case because SOMETIMES women can go into labor due to the pressure that is put on the baby while trying to turn them, etc.  So, off we went......and 5 hours later.....home we went.  No baby, no turn, nothin'.  At this point, we were scheduled for a c-section to welcome Max into this world on June 10th. 

Back to Friday....

My brother was coming into town for a work conference (he lived in Dallas at the time) and since my mom didn't ever get to see him, she came into town too.  Before they arrived, I tried to clean the house a bit and noticed back pain throughout my cleaning - but just shrugged it off.  I was pregnant and my back was supposed to hurt, right?  Jake and I did our usual - ate dinner (pizza that night) and went on a walk around the neighborhood!  After our walk, I decided that I wanted a blizzard from dairy queen - yum!  So soon after our dairy queen run, my mom got here.

She walked in the door and we hugged but I remember thinking that my back hurt so bad so I decided to lay for a bit until we had to go pick up Barry from the airport.  Well, while laying - my mom noticed my wincing and kept asking if I was okay.  I said yes, just having some contractions, but I was fine.  Well about an hour later, they kept coming so she finally started timing them.  There was NO WAY I was going into labor...

Well sure enough she said "you know Melis, those are coming pretty regularly...maybe you should call your doctor".  After about two hours of saying no, no, no they are just braxton hicks...I finally started to get a little scared.  Were these real?  So my mom left to go pick up Barry.  Around midnight, I finally gave in and called the doctor to which they promptly said to come on in to Labor and Delivery so we can get checked out!

It was strange....Jake was ECSTATIC.  He was running around like a crazy person saying "oh my gosh, we're having a baby". And I decided to put on some makeup, dry and straighten my hair, dress, pack a little more....it was like a calm feeling but denial all rolled into one.   On our way, we texted family and friends to let them know we were going into the hospital, but that we weren' sure if it were for real, so we would keep them posted.  We got to the hospital (mom and Barry met us there), got admitted around 2 a.m., hooked up to monitors (where sure enough my contractions were about every 4 to 5 minutes) and just waited for the doctor.    The nurse said we would wait for the doctor to tell us if they were going to take the baby or just have us leave and come back on the 10th for our scheduled c-section date.  I was starting to get scared and a little overwhelmed - almost hoping the doctor would tell us to go home.  The doctor finally came in around 6 a.m. and told us "it's baby day"!  So, exhausted we were with no sleep but so excited to hold this little gift....we were scheduled to be rolled back around 7 a.m...

In came the anesthesiologist, nurses everywhere, doctors, etc.  To be honest, I can't remember the epidural - I can only remember looking at Jake...he looked at me with such love and concern....so protective for and of me.  He held my hand, kept telling me to just breathe - and then he held me as I shivered and shook from the epidural.  At that moment, I realized what an amazing man I married and how blessed Max will be to have such a special father.