Friday the 13th

From now on, I will no longer see Friday the 13th as a weird, over-emphasized day. Instead, I will forever remember that my daughter was born on Friday the 13th. Here's the story.

Joseph and I had tons of plans for Friday. He had the day off so he had two doctor appointments scheduled, one of which was to get the whooping cough vaccine for the baby. Then we had an appointment to sign our will. Lastly, we planned to meet with a realtor and discuss building a house. We had the entire day planned out. Then Saturday, we planned to go to the beach so I could dig a hole in the sand and lay on my stomach. Instead, we spent Friday and Saturday in a hospital holding our daughter, a child of God.

Thursday evening, Joseph got home from work and we decided to go out to Texas Roadhouse for date night. We had a delicious dinner and came home and went for a long walk. We went to bed and at 10:30pm, I got up to run to the bathroom as my water was breaking. Joseph was still awake as I am running and telling him we are going to the hospital. Fortunately, I had just finished packing our bags that morning as I was 37 weeks and thought she'd come late! We called the hospital and they told us to come in right away so we did. Around 11pm, we got to the hospital and they checked me. I was 1cm and had a LONG way to go. Our baby was doing well so the nurses said get some sleep and we'll see what happens by the morning.

Throughout the night, the contractions picked up in intensity and pain, which means Joseph got sleep but I did not. Some of my contractions were ten minutes long, which caused our baby's heart rate to drop. I had to wear oxygen and lay on the left side to keep her happy. My doctor arrived at 7am and started pitocin since my body wasn't dilating quickly enough. By 9am, the contractions were three minutes apart so I could finally get my epidural. It was AMAZING! However, the anesthesiologist made me nervous because he had a difficult time getting the epidural placed and had to redo it. I was worried he was going to tell me that I couldn't get one. Joseph went off to his doctor appointment because I was only 5 cm at that point.

At 11am the nurses came to check me and said, "She's right there!" It was time to push! The nurses got the room ready and out came our baby girl at 12:42pm after about 14 hours of labor.

The doctor held her up when she came out and she was perfect. She cried a little bit and was given 9s for her APGAR scores. Joseph stood by her as the nurse washed her skin and warmed her up. Then I was able to hold her and I fell in love with her! It still amazes me that God could bless with such a choice daughter of His.

We came home Saturday afternoon and life has been great. She is still sleeping a lot, which I'm grateful for. Joseph and I thank God every day for giving us such a gift. Ashton has reminded us that we are an eternal family and she is sent to this earth with purpose. We love her so much and could not imagine life without her.

Here are some pictures of the experience so far.

Right after being born.

We all thought she'd be a little preemie baby but nope.

Holding his baby girl.

So, she arrived in September (point for me). However, she weighed less than 7 lbs 8 oz  (point for Joseph). However, I guessed less than 19 inches and Joseph guessed over 20 and Ashton was 19.5 inches. So we rounded up and Joseph won the bet.

Her sleeping position once we got home from the hospital.

Wearing an outfit from her great-grandma and a hat that was knitted for her.

Ashton falls asleep super fast for Joseph. He's also the best at swaddling her.