This Crazy Wonderful Justice Life: HANNAH IS HERE!

Phew. What a ride these past 10 days have been! I can't wait to tell the story, so I will start now...

Sunday, March 14th, 5:00 PM: Jen and Steve Hale generously take Steve and I's "maternity montage". We went to Freedom Park where Jen took some wonderful pictures of us with my big ol belly. Little did we know that this was perfect timing as that belly would not have been there much longer. Matt Jones, Steve's best friend from Florida was still in town and we went to BIg Daddy's Burger Bar after the photo shoot. I got my regular spinach salad and started feeling a bit different later that night while we watched Hurt Locker....

Monday, March 15th, 6:00 AM: Steve and I wake up extra early to get to work. I feel weird and more "crampy" than normal, but I had a big day that I did not want to miss! Steve drops me off at work and he goes to his normal workout. I ceased to feel any better, and really just ended up feeling worse as the day went on. However, I managed to train 5 clients and get a 45 minute workout in of my own. Around 2:15 PM, Steve came to get me after he bid farewell to Matt at the house. He knew I was not feeling well, so we both agreed that we would stop by the doctor's office since it was on the way home.

Monday, March 15th, 2:45 PM: My regular doctor was not in at the time, so Dr. Yavorski, a very nice lady, checked me out and listened to all of my symptoms. After all that jazz, she had a very funny feeling that I was leaking amniotic fluid, but not convinced. She sent us over to the hospital (next door) and had the triage nurses monitor my uterine activity and perform more tests. After confirming that I WAS having contractions all day long (even though they were minor and not producing active labor) and having me walk around the hospital for an hour, they confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid! When that happens, there is no going home. So they admitted me to a labor and delivery room. We would not be leaving Presbyterian Hospital of Charlotte without sweet Hannah! Steve ran home to get the dogs and take them to a doggie daycare/boarding place that we (thank goodness) had the dogs interviewed and cleared at a week before just in case there was no one available to handle their extreme high maintenance. He returned back to the hospital with some Sprite, our packed bag (that was already in the car, duh, how Type A am I), and a lot of excitement!

Monday, March 15th, 6:00 PM: By this time we were all set up in our room and had become buddies with our awesome nurse Elizabeth, who would be with us throughout the night. I was contracting regularly, but it really didn't hurt much. Steve would laugh at me when I said, oops, there went one! I sat on a birthing ball, walked around a bit, but really decided that I wanted to lay down because it had been such a long day already! Jen and Steve Hale came to visit, and I asked Dr. Jen a million questions that she at least seemed happy to answer. They also brought us some yummy vitamin water. At this point I was starving and was more concerned about why I couldn't have a snack! Oh well, I ended up breaking that rule when no one was looking. Who knew that I would be regretting that one later. The doctor came in around 11:30 PM to check my progress. She was all for letting this progress naturally, especially since I could not take an epidural because my platelet count was too low. But, I was still only 2 CM dilated and I wanted to get this thing moving! So we elected to have Dr. break my water totally. Well, that didn't feel great. But what was about to ensue, I could never have imagined....thank goodness Steve and Jen decided to leave not long after she broke my water because the mood was about to change drastically!

Tuesday, March 16th, 12:01 AM: Active labor begins. No pain medication. Now, I have been through pain before. Preseason fitness tests. Susan Ellis fitness. Broken bones. Severe sprains. 20 years of soccer didn't touch the pain I would feel for the next 6 hours. While I had "read" bout the contractions, and I was mentally prepared for them, I was not prepared to the time between. I thought it would be complete rest! But oh no, no, no, it was not rest. It was just a version on a weaker contraction! I did my best to relax. I took a cold shower (not knowing that the hot water was WEAK). I grabbed every part of Steve's upper body, including his face, and squeezed as hard as I could. I threw up 5 times in Steve's lap. I forgot where I was - in Indianapolis or Charlotte? But I didn't yell or scream. My eyes were closed the whole time and I layed on my side. I tried to breathe as I had been taught. But the pain was still so intense. At 3 AM, the doctor checked me again. I was only 1 more CM dilated. AH! I was defeated. I asked Steve to have them do anything they could to get Hannah out! He stayed strong and convinced me just to take a pain killer through an IV, which was not even hooked up yet (after consulting with Mrs. Hanley of course)!

Tuesday, March 16th, 3:30 AM: The "strong Asprin" pain medication didn't do much but make me a bit drowsy. At this time the contractions got to their peak - one after another with no break. and then the break in between might have only been about 30 seconds. I was so delusional at this point I can't even remember what happened. But I can vaguely remember that started to feel the urge to push and told Steve. Steve was told to call Elizabeth in immediately when I said that. Only 2 hours had passed, so it seemed very unlikely that I was already at 10 CM. Elizabeth came to check me, and was flabbergasted. She called the doctor in (it was around 5:30 AM now and she confirmed it.... I was 10 CM! I could start pushing! It was a miracle. They called a hoard of people in (I guess it is a big deal when the baby is about to come :-)). So, I pushed as hard as I could for 20 minutes (thank you soccer and abdominal exercises), and sweet Hannah arrived at 6:21 AM. It was spectacular. It was unreal. It was worth ALL of the pain. Let me now say that I would have never made it without my incredible husband. Steve sat straight up in a chair for 6 hours, did not fall asleep once, held my hand, and rubbed wherever hurt (back, legs, neck...) while staring at a monitor and telling me when my contractions were coming and leaving. He even lied to me when there was nothing on the screen. He was the real trooper. I just fall more in love with him each day....he is such a servant. I don't and won't ever deserve him.

Well, the rest is a blur, but basically....

We had Hannah for about 3 hours before she started "grunting" for air. Our amazing nurse who took over for Elizabeth recognized this right away and took her to the nursery. We had no idea what any of this meant as everyone acted very calm and positive. We took a long nap in our recovery room and were awakened by an NICU Nurse Practitioner. She explained to us that Hannah's breathing had become worse and they discovered that she had an infection in her blood. The infection was very serious (called Group B Strep - only occurs in 1 of every 4000 babies) and the next night was very crucial to determine how she would respond to her medications etc. The weirdest thing was that EVERY mother is now tested for GBS before they deliver. My test came back negative, so I was not treated. But somehow, Hannah and I contracted it after the test was performed. Anyways, thanks be to the Good Lord, as an answer to many of our and your prayers, Hannah responded wonderfully that night. It was the HARDEST thing I ever had to see - our sweet little girl hooked up to so many tubes and wires. But those nurses and doctors saved Hannah's life. We thank God for them - and we will never forget them. Hannah was in the hospital for 10 days to complete her antibiotic treatment. She got better each day and gained the reputation for eating like her daddy! She is off the charts in how much she eats. I just hope I can keep up with our little moo cow! We are so thankful that our nurse caught Hannah's symptoms when they did. Sometimes babies are sent home before before symptoms appear and their survival is highly compromised. It still makes me cry to think about how everything worked out perfectly. God was in control the whole time.

On a side note, and unimportantly, about 12 hours after I delivered, I started having a ton of pain in my pelvis and my left leg. I could not walk and I had the shivers because the pain was so intense. Steve had to pick my dead weight out of bed just to get me to a wheel chair (again, ho thankful I am to him). Ends up, I essentially separated my pelvis at the front (called the pubic bone), pretty severely. During labor, this will usually happen slightly for a baby to come, but I had it worse that most. This was probably a product of me having BOY hips (haha), and the fact that I had some separation all throughout my pregnancy because Hannah was sitting so low. While this pain has been second to labor, it really is getting better (very slowly), and I will be excited when I don't have to live on Vicodin or 800 MG of ibuprofen every 6 hours! I just want to be better so that I can be 100% for my little girl.

We brought our sweet baby home today. She is awesome. She is healthy. She looks like her daddy in the face, but has my lanky body. We can see some red-blonde streaks coming in her soft hair :-). We will see what happens there! She loves to eat and is great at both the bottle and with eating from me. We are breastfeeding exclusively (and have been the whole time), and are so thankful that the process is going well for now. Most of all, we are thankful to Jesus Christ for each step along the way. From Hannah's conception to now, He has had His hand on each second. We are thankful to all of our friends and family who have been so supportive and encouraging. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts - please know how much we love you. We are thankful to all of Hannah's nurses and doctors and my doctors and nurses for making such an overwhelming experience a great and memorable one.

Hannah is God's child and it is Steve and I's prayer that we may raise her the way HE desires. May we be His tool in forming her into the woman He created her to be!

And now some pictures to go with the story:

Beautiful Charlotte the day before Hannah arrived.