The Labor Story

Mom woke up friday morning with lots of pressure in her pelvis, but didn't have many contractions all day. While dad was busy honing his Wii skills, mom began to feel nauseous. We decided to take mom home at 5:30 pm. About 7:30 pm the contractions began feeling very strong, so dad quickly thinking decided to start timing contractions. The contractions were between 6-10 minutes apart, and lasted about 45-60 seconds. At 8:30 pm we decided to call the doctor, where we were told if we were still comfortable, we could stay put. Being comfortable lasted only 35 more minutes. Luckily, dad was prepared, and we were able to leave with the overnight bag by about 9:15 pm. We dropped our dog pepper off with our great friends tim and candace. Thank you both again! We got to the hospital and checked in immediately were we met our new friend nurse Janet. After answering many questions we met doctor Huey, wonderful person. Doctor Huey measured mom and she was measuring 3 cm, so the epideral was ordered immediately! About 10:40 pm mom received the epideral, and what a wonderful thing they are. The pain and the annoyance with dad seemed to cease almost immediately. About 30 minutes later mom told dad, I either peed or my water broke (not being able to feel from the waist down). The brave dad decided to proceed with caution and investigate was it pee or was it the infamous water breaking. At first dad didn't see anything, then "oh dear god......that's not pee" Nurse Janet arrived shortly after dads discovery only to confirm that he was correct. Not only did the water break though, but there seemed to be some merconium as well. At that point dr. Huey arrived to let mom know she was already 7 or 8 cm dialated. While looking around making sure baby and mom were okay, Madeline's heart rate began to drop immediately. Dr. Huey decided to get the back room aka the c-section room ready. Without hesitation Mom was wisked out of the room with Nurse Janet and there were calls for other doctors and anethesiologists. If you can't tell by now, dads spelling is not his strong suit. What his strong suit is, is remaining calm under adversity. Dad was telling mom she was doing great, all the while se was being rushed out of the room. While dad patiently waited in the labor and delivery room, mom and baby and the outstanding team at Northshore Womens hospital in Evanston performed a perfect c-section. At about 1230 am Dad got the confirmation that we had a baby girl and everyone was doing okay. It took until 1 am or shortly after for dad to hold his baby girl, and that's when love at first sight happened.

Life is truly precious and a mircle, our lives are changed forever. For the better. We have a little angel, that her Grandfather looked over until mom and dad could.

We love you Maddie!!