My Baby Story ( aka Who's Screaming Now???)

Ok, there's another blog contest going on and here is my entry. The contest is being run by My Semblance of Sanity. Shes got an awesome prize and the contest runs through Tuesday the 29th. The contest is for your birth/adoption stories. So hers mine...

This happened 9 years ago in Arlington, TX.
I had always wanted a baby. I thought being pregnant would be a joyous miracle and fun. I wanted to go shopping for cutsie baby clothes, strollers, all the little gadgets you need. What I experienced was indeed a joyous miracle, however that its the only thing said above that turned out true.

When Chris and I found out I was pregnant, we had only been trying for two months, so it happened pretty quick. I found out relatively early because at the time I worked at an OB/GYN office so I had access to pregnancy tests out the wazoo. When I took the pee-stick test it showed a light positive, so I had a friend draw my blood and sent it off for an HCG level. It came back that I was about 3 weeks or so. Very early pregnant. The doctor I worked for at the time took a look at the results and said it was probably a blighted ovum. I didn't think so. The nurse I worked with said she would do a quick vaginal ultrasound to see if there was actually anything there. There was. I was ecstatic. It looked like a little peanut. So there started her nickname - the Precious Peanut.
Well around 6 weeks or so, I started spotting. Doctor said if I was going to miscarry there was no way to stop it but ordered me to bed for 3-4 days.
I didn't miscarry. Everything was going fine. No morning sickness, just a touch of the queasies. I was working at the local hospital from 5am - 130 pm. At 17 weeks the spotting came back. I was ordered on bedrest for the next week or so. Now all of you who know me know that I love to read. At this exciting time in my life was no different. I read everything I could get my hands on. Therefore I had read that late term miscarriages start with spotting of pinkish red/brown dishcharge. I was spotting brown. I was scared.
The week was over, no miscarriage. I went back to work, everything was ok again. Then about 20 weeks it happened again. This time I was ordered to bed for 2 weeks.
By this time we had found out it was a girl. We had picked out her name and everything. Her nickname had grown to The Precious Princess Peanut.
Her due date was November 18th, which was my Grandmother Lela's birthday. ( She had passed away in May of 1988)
I thought Grandma had chosen her especially for me and had scheduled her to arrive on her birthday. I missed my Grandmother terribly at that time. I also must mention that at the time of my pregnancy my Uncle David was very sick with Cancer. He was always the jokester of the family and he told me he was going to live long enough to see his newest great niece. I talked to my uncle more in those 7 mos than I ever had before.
Anyway, everything went back to normal. They had taken me off my normal job in the lab at the hospital and plopped me in Medical Records so I wouldn't be on my feet so much. Fine with me.
I developed Toxemia around 28-30 weeks. They monitored me closely and I was told to cut job to half days. Then around 32 weeks or so they told me to go on bedrest till I delivered. Chris was working nights , but we only lived 5 houses down from my parents at the time, so I had plenty of people to watch over me. We also had a friend that played drums in a band and would come visit me when she got off work.
Sadly enough, my Uncle David passes away on October 19. I didn't get to say goodbye. I wasn't allowed to go to his funeral because the doctor said it would put too much stress on me and the baby. I was devastated, but took some comfort that he would meet her in Heaven before she was delivered to us.
I got through the rest of the weeks in a blur. They finally told me I was going to be induced. I was scheduled to go the night before and they would give me some stuff to try to jumpstart labor. They gave me a cervidil suppository which is supposed to soften the Cervix and sometimes it brings on labor. I had a reaction to it. Before I knew it I had the head nurse in there and they were bringing in the sonogram machine and putting me on my hands and knees with my butt in the air, which is the emergency position if the baby is in distress. I was scared. Turns out that my Uterus began to fibrillate, and it did it all night long. They gave me Breathine to try to calm it down but to no avail. This lasted all night. Chris , my mom and MIL were there in the room with me, all helping me ,and praying and I don't know what else. My water broker the next morning around 715 am or so. They started me on the Pitocin and said to get comfy, it would be awhile. My cousin Julie ( who had 2 kids of her own by then) told me to sit straight up and let gravity help me along. I did and boy did it ever. The nurse came to check me , said I was dilated about 3 1/2-4, so she would go notify the epidural dude. While she was gone, I started complaining of really bad, strong contractions. My mom and MIL were looking at the monitor and telling me to toughen up, my contractions were not registering all that hard, so why was I being so wimpy??!!! Well 25 minutes later the nurse came back in to check me and I was dilated to a 7-8. I was in transition. No drugs for me. ( What? this wasn't the plan... I wanted DRUGS!!!) . The nurse said they could shoot some stuff into my IV but it probably wouldn't help much at this point. She did and it didn't. I felt it all. I started pushing at 10:02, and she popped out at 10:14am on Thursday November 5, 1998.
She weighed in at 7lbs, 9 1/2 oz and was 19 3/4 in. long. She had a head of brown hair and my MIL yelled when she saw her " She's got my nose!!"
Her name was Honor Lela Nicole. So to this day her full nickname has emerged into ( and she will get mad at me for telling ya'll this since it embarrasses her but ) The Precious Princess Peanut Honor Lela Nicole Boo Boo Bear :)))
The doctor told me that I should never do that again. I haven't. She is the only baby I will have and I thank God for her every day.

( Thats the end, sorry if I was a bit long winded. I've never written that down before, and doing so brought back a swirl of emotion)
Thanks for allowing me to share it.