Taylor's Birthday

Sorry for not posting anything sooner. I know several of you have been checking this blog daily for updates, and I appreciate your interest! After ten long days of anticipation, Taylor made a break for the real world on Monday. We arrived at the hospital about 5:45 Monday evening, and Taylor was born at 2:15 Tuesday morning. It was such a surreal experience!

I woke up Monday morning and something did not feel "right." Tommy and I were up late on Sunday due to a quick trip to the hospital. We thought my water had broken, but a few tests revealed that my "leaking" was not amniotic fluid. We were sent home rejected on Sunday night, so when I woke up and felt cramps on Monday morning, I did not want to get my hopes up. I knew it would take a lot for me to rush back to triage (I hate rejection). About 11:00, I went upstairs to take a nap, and I felt a big contraction. By 11:45, I called Tommy and asked him to come home from work. This will not come as a surprise to those of you who know Tommy well, but he was home with a stopwatch in hand by 12:30. The contractions went from okay to uncomfortable to unbearable by 4:00, so we made our break for the hospital right around 5:00. Thank goodness it was MLK Day and traffic was light!

Once I was admitted to the hospital, I was moved to a labor and delivery suite and given an epidural. I love drugs!!! Maybe I am a total wimp, but I really cannot imagine how some women go through this process without any medication. They are my heroes. My pain went from excruciating to minimal in a matter of minutes. Thank goodness! My mom and Tommy's parents came back to our room about 7:30, and luckily we had some great Monday night television to watch (The Bachelor and 24) while we waited for the big event. When I was examined at 12:30 AM, I had dilated to 9.5 cm. At 1:30 AM, I started pushing. Miss Taylor Michelle made her grand appearance at 2:15 AM, and I still cannot describe that moment or completely comprehend what happened. It was truly an out of body experience.

The past couple of days have been a blur. We spent Tuesday in the hospital and were released about 1:00 on Wednesday afternoon. I am so thankful to the nursing staff at Swedish for all of their help and advice. Thanks to crappy insurance and modern medicine, you are in and out of the hospital as quickly as possible these days, but I think Tommy and I were both ready to get back to the real world.

Taylor's first day and night at home have gone really well (knock on wood). She is a great eater and sleeper! My mom has also been a great help, going to the store and cooking for us. Tommy is completely enamoured by his little girl, so it has been fun to hang around the house and just stare at her.

Below are some more pictures of Taylor. I'll continue to post more in the next few days. We think she's pretty precious!