One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today I was just waking up from sleeping the first night (early morning) with my second daughter. It was a Saturday morning at about 9:30 and there was a knock on the door with a tray of breakfast for me. Ella was fast asleep in her little hospital bed next to my bed. Gonzo was sweating, snoring, tossing, and turning on those horrible hospital couch beds. I felt great and was grateful for a healthy baby girl who came easily and quickly! I was thankful my parents made it in time to see the birth and were at home with my other sweet daughter. One year ago today I was a very happy mommy of two beautiful miracles named Adda and Ella!

Ella's birth story:
From 36 weeks to almost 40 weeks I was only dilated to a 2 but had been having regular contractions that whole time. I had so much pressure that I was almost positive each week when I went in that my doctor would tell me I was dilated more and more. No such luck! You start to get pissed after the third week of being dilated the same. It's like studying your butt off for a test and the grade doesn't show your effort. It's like running a race and not placing! You NEED to justify your pregnancy effort by the doctor telling you a higher number each week. Even if you only go up one stinking number you just need to hear a larger number! I think I might have even said something like "Are you freaking kidding me!!??" when I went to my next to last appointment and he said I was STILL a 2!
At that time I was keeping four kids besides Adda full time. I had a friend who would come sit with the kids while Gonzo and I would go to our appointments. We got back to the house about 9:00 and she asked how it went. We gave her the look we had given her the past three Friday mornings which was only a 2. She left and Gonzo went back to work and I went on with my routine with the kiddos. At about 9:30 I started having contractions. These were a little more painful than normal and were even more consistent. I got lunch ready for everyone and got everyone down for naps by 1:00. I then did what every pregnant girl would do if she thought the time was getting close to deliver a child, I took and bath and shaved my legs! Luckily I had painted my toe nails the weekend before or I would have painted them after the bath! Then I laid down and started timing the contractions. I decided I was not going to call until they had been consistently the same apart for an hour. After one hour I called the doctor and waited for the nurse to call back. She called back and asked if I had been up walking around or laying down with the contractions. By that time it had been almost two hours of contraction every five minutes or less and lasting for five minutes or less. She suggested when all the kids were picked up that I start walking and time the contractions during walking instead of laying.
So at about 4:15 the last of my kiddos had been picked up and I loaded Adda up and headed to track practice. I walked Adda over to Gonzo at the shot-put rink and I started walking around the outside of the track. I was hurting and VERY determined to have that baby in the VERY near future. Over the next thirty minutes my contractions went from every 5 minutes to every 2 minutes and were lasting about 5 minutes each. I walked until Gonzo was finished with shot practice. As he and Adda walked towards me I started to cry. Of course Gonzo started freaking out and I told him I was scared. I was scared of what to do next. I was scared for Adda because I knew we were fixing to go get our bags and leave her with friends as we drove to the hospital. I was scared of having two babies. I was scared that it was here! I was induced with Adda and had a little prep time before we headed to the hospital. I was in labor with Ella and knew there was no turning back.
We headed home and packed some stuff for Adda and then got our stuff together. I took one last picture with my only little girl! I will cherish that picture forever because I can remember every single emotion I had as I held her.

OMG, so ready!

We dropped Adda off at some friends and headed to the hospital. They got me checked into the triage and I went in the bathroom to change into the robe. As I took my Uggs off I realized my socks were soaking in blood. When I got home from the track I took my tennis shoes off and put my boots on without paying attention to my feet. I had walked until my toes were bleeding. Never mind the fact that my feet were probably a little swollen and my shoes were a little small. I told you I was determined to walk until those contractions were almost on top of each other. I was a little embarrassed by my bloody ankle socks so I just stuck my Uggs back on with my gown. I looked fantastic! She hooked me up to the machines and checked me. I was a 3! I wanted to scream! Was she joking?!! My contractions were coming fast and hard and I was only a 3. She suggested we walk in the hospital! I did not want to go home and time contractions all night long but they did not want to keep me at a 3. She told us to walk for a while and come back and she would check me again. So I put my bloody socks back on with my boots and we walked.

 This is a picture Gonzo took on my phone as we were walking through the hospital halls.  Notice how far ahead I was!  I was walking fast and hard to move that labor along!!!  I tried to only walk in upstairs areas so people would not have to see me in that outfit! 

She checked me a little while later and I was almost a 4. So we walked some more. I was keeping my parents and Lee and Andrea informed because both of them were going to head our way if they decided to keep me. Lee and Andrea were going to stay at our house with Adda and my parents were going to drive 6 hours. At that point my Dad made the call to go ahead and hit the road. Shortly after that Lee and Andrea headed to Arlington too! The nurse checked me again and I was a four. She hooked me up to the machines and wanted to watch my contractions for a while. They were coming about every two to three minutes and were pretty intense. I was for sure they would keep me. Luckily, my doctor was on call and already at the hospital. After about another 30 minutes they decided to keep me.
Lee and Andrea were at our house by then and working on getting all the kids to bed. Andrea headed to the hospital and Lee stayed with the kids. She came in the room with a Mountain Dew and was ready to stay all night. That was about 11:00 and my parents made it there by midnight. I was laying comfortably watching my contractions go off the charts.

I was dilating pretty slowly and felt pretty good. All of the sudden I felt like I needed to push. The nurse came in and checked me and said I was almost ready but not to push. They were waiting for my doctor to come in and I was starting to feel the pain again. It was too late to press the button on my epidural. She was ready to come and my epidural had worn off. In a few minutes time (seemed longer) my doctor was there and I could finally push. Two pushes and it was over. Ella came at 3:27am on Saturday, February 11, 2012. She weighed 8 pounds 13.5 ounces and was 21 inches long.

What a big girl and lots of hair!!!

 

After my parents and Lee and Andrea got all the kids up and around they all headed up to the hospital wearing pink!!!

 Adda's first time to see and hold her baby sister!

And that brings us to today...

One year has passed! I can't even believe that Ella is one year old! So much has happened in that year and now we are expecting two more at one time!!!! The best part about the last year has been the same "best part" of all the years of our lives together. GOD!!! He has shown such amazing grace and mercy through every single day of both of our lives. The only reason either one of us can say we are where we are is because of His hand in our life! We have two precious girls and two more babies to come and He has had His hand in every single part of those events. There have been hard things and unplanned things, but all of it has happened because of Him. We can look at where God has us and know that He is in control. Our new prayer as a family of four and soon to be six is that He will keep us tethered to Him. My brother preached last night and used that word.  I like that word...tethered.  It's strong, its braided, it's twisted, it's tight.  Being tethered to something is stronger than being tied to it!  I don't want to waver from Christ!  Things will not always be happy, perfect, and PINK! All we can do is make sure we (all six of us) stay tethered to HIM! We won't make it in this hard world without God! It's not possible!

So, one year ago I said I was a very happy mommy of two beautiful girls. Today, I am still very happy. I'm unsure and sometimes nervous.  I'm difficult and sometimes hard headed, but very happy. I don't know what tomorrow holds for us but I know that He holds us yesterday, today, and tomorrow! AMEN!