Is my baby really TWO?!?!

Well, my baby is turning "2" officially in about 15 hours! I really can't believe it! I often still refer to her as my "baby girl," but she's really not a baby at all. She's a big girl. A fun girl. A happy girl. A smart girl. A pure joy to all of us! She's the best gift that Savannah, GA ever gave us!!

Thinking about the journey we've been on with baby ~M~ it reminds me of her pregnancy and birth. You see, I'm not a very good pregnant person. No one thought we'd have another child after our first, because no one thought I'd be willing to go thru the hell I have to go thru to become a mother. But, alas, I did it again, and again, and again.....well, you get the point.

But actually, baby ~M~ was a surprise, more like a shock, really. We had only been in Savannah a few weeks when I found myself hyperventalating over the two lines on the pregnancy test. I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES!!!!! (In this pic, it's so hard to see both lines, but trust me, it was there!)

I walked back and forth, crying and sitting on the toilet to put my head between my legs to attempt to breathe. We had just moved 1050 miles from home and we didn't know anyone here! I wasn't even sure our insurance was in effect yet! Believe me there was no sightings of our boys all in cutesy "big brother" t-shirts, no lunch w/ a restaurant bill that says only..."You're gonna be a Daddy!" Instead my hubby was blessed with a frantic phone call from his hyperventalating wife during his afternoon editoral meeting. ( a really bad time to call )

So, fast forward a few weeks and 5 pregnancy tests later, and I began to accept things. Yep, I kept taking the tests wondering if just one would read negative. It never happened. (seriously, who takes 5 home pregnancy tests and 1 at the doctor?!?!) By then, the pregnancy troubles has started, as well. Horrible morning sickness, high blood pressure, migraine headaches and I was trying to get in to the doctor here in GA. They don't generally see you until 12 weeks here, but because of my miscarriage history, I needed medical guidance immediately.

I made an appointment with a doctor in our town and I went to see the doctor. When I began to fill out the paperwork, it was as follows:

Name______________ Address___________________ Phone #______________

Last date of Menstrual Period___________________

Is the father of this baby related to you, cousins or closer? Check yes or no.

If yes, what is your relation to the father of this baby?_____________________________

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! WHERE THE HECK AM I?!?!

I could not believe it! Turns out the doctor was a quack and refused to see me because of my pregnancy history......and although I was sobbing in the parking lot....looking back, I'm glad!

So, my pregnancy was tons of fun..... non-stop nausea and vomiting, pre-eclampsia, RH- (so I had to take Rhogam shots,) I had weekly and bi-weekly monitering for the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy and I was Group B Strep positive. We had a scare at 34 weeks that we might be giving birth that day. Turns out we had a sleepy baby and she was fine. Ah, memories.....

When I had my mid-pregnancy Level 2 ultrasound, we were told we were having a girl. I could not believe it. I didn't believe it until 4 0r 5 ultrasounds later. But then, we sure had fun going girly! Pink was sure fun to buy for a change!!

If you can believe it, at 38 1/2 weeks, my bi-weekly biophysical profiles and ultrasounds revealed that I was low on amniotic fluid. Turns out, that's bad. So, my doctor tried to get me into the hospital, but there were NO beds. So, I had to wait over 24 hours and report to the hospital at 5:30pm the following day. So, we did.

When we got to the hospital they gave me the internal cervix-softening medication, Cervadil. Now THAT was fun! There is nothing like having a doctor climb halfway up your hoo haw to apply some medicine to your cervix. That's almost as fun as an enema!!! Within an hour or so, I was having pretty regular, hard contractions....all night long! I got about 2 hours of sleep total. I was exhausted by morning.

But by 5:30am, they were in and hooking me up to the DEVIL'S DRUG.....Pitocin! Man is that stuff evil!! I spent an enjoyable day on Pitocin (ha....NOT!) and didn't progress at all. I kept begging them to break my water so I could give birth, but the intern doctor barely checked on me, let alone, listened to what I had to say about my previous birth experiences. By late afternoon, I was exhausted emotionally and physically and extremely frustrated!! When they finally did check me, I had still made no progress and I was so discouraged. All that pain and no progress. I was very upset and my hubby was pretty angry, as well. So he complained to the intern doctor and she got mad and called my Perinatologist. Well, I don't know what she said to him, but he blew into my room about 25 minutes later and announced he was going to break my water right then! I freaked out!!! I began crying and freaking out. I told him there was no way he could do it now, for I was too exhausted from no sleep and being in labor since the night before. He finally calmed down and agreed to wait until the following day. So, he gave me orders for a steak dinner, a hot bath, more Cervadil and a sleeping pill. What else could a girl ask for?!?! I was elated.

So the next morning at 6am, they came in and we started all over again! By lunchtime, I was still making little progress. I was really starting to fear a C-Section. I was really getting emotionally worn out, a little scared and a lot frustrated. At only 3 centimeters, I couldn't get an epidural and they kept insisting they couldn't break my water. But I kept begging them to do it. I insisted if they would, I would give birth.

Finally, right around noon, they agreed to try to break my water. Now, I'm sure they were right because when they went looking for that bag of water....I thought I was gonna die!!! It hurt so bad! I had a nurse pushing on top of the baby trying to bulge out the bag so they could reach it thru my slightly dialated cervix and just about when I was crying and screamed STOP....my water broke and went everywhere! Immediately it started. The white hot labor pains that would bring my daughter into this world! I was moaning, crying and begging for the epidural. I kept saying, if you don't call him...I won't get one. It will be too late!! No one believed me. And 35 minutes later...although the anesthesiologist did get the epidural in, it was too late to do any good for me.....I gave birth to the most beautiful - 6lb, 13oz. baby girl you have ever seen!!

And now she's turning TWO!! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!