1 + 1 = 3

She's here!  I know all of you know that since I've been posting about it on facebook, but I need to put it in the blog for all of my stalkers (you know you're one of them!!).  Warning: this is the story of Andi's birth.  If you are grossed out by birth, or anything to do with it, skip down to the part with pictures.  That's when I'll be talking about postpartum and how awesome it is to have a crying infant!!  haha just kidding...But not really.  So.  Let's get down to the nitty gritty...

My due date for Andi was Sunday the 25th, I was scheduled to be induced on Monday the 26th in case she didn't come early.  My mom came out to stay with us the Monday before Thanksgiving, I was so glad to have here there to get the house ready and keep me company before the baby came.

My OB always told me that if I thought I was in labor, I wasn't.  He said I'd KNOW when I was in labor.  So when I started having contractions around 3:00 am on Saturday the 24th, I found out that he was right!  They were about half an hour apart, and the pain wasn't anything I couldn't handle.  I mean, it was uncomfortable, but I was able to fall back asleep in between them so I figured I had some time.  By the time 6:00 rolled around, I couldn't sleep anymore.  So I told Mark it was D-Day and hopped in the shower.  Now, this being my first pregnancy, I had no idea how fast things were going, or how fast they were supposed to be going, so after I got ready for the day I headed upstairs to the office and started doing some work.  I know, I know, I'm a freak.  But I really had some stuff that I wanted to get done before the baby came!  When contractions would come (which at this point was about every 5 minutes lasting 30 seconds or so) I would grip the handles of the computer chair, breathe really deeply, then keep on trucking when it was over.  When 9:00 came,  the pain was about a 5 out of 10, so I figured we should head to the hospital.  When I stood up to go downstairs, my water broke!  Then I REALLY knew it was time to go...

We checked into the hospital at about 10:00 am.  The nurse told me I was at a 3.  Not bad, considering I was a 1 only 3 days before that.  Being in the hospital wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.  Well, maybe exciting is the wrong word.  Of course it was exciting because we were about to meet our little girl!  Maybe it's just that it was so calm.  In movies you always see nurses bustling about and people pacing the hallways and lots of screaming is going on.  We didn't have any of that.  My contractions were really hurting me, but I would just squeeze Mark's hand like I wanted to rip it off, let out a little whimper, and then go back to watching "Undercover Boss" on the TV.  I love that show, by the way.  But I digress...

My contractions were starting to really bother me.  I mean on a scale of 1 to 10 they were like an 8.  I hated my life.  I didn't know when it was socially acceptable to ask for my epidural.  I didn't want to get it right away and look like a wimp.  (Word to the wise girls who haven't had babies yet: get your epidural AS SOON AS YOU CAN.  You are NOT a wimp.  It is worth it.)  So around 2:00 pm I asked the nurse to check me again and see how far along I was.  To her surprise, I was already at a freaking EIGHT.  Everyone was shocked that I was progressing so fast.  Well, you can imagine how fast I called for that epidural!!  Once it kicked in, I was on cloud nine!  I mean, I could have a baby every day if I had an epidural!  It was the best!  I loved it so much I'm going to keep putting exclamaition points after my sentences!!!  Ok, I'm done.

Around 3:30 they called the Dr and told him I was ready to push.  He got there about 3:50 and we started pushing.  After the 3rd contraction of pushing, Andi was almost out but her heart rate dropped quite a bit, and pretty quickly.  The Dr gave me an episiotomy and on the 4th push she popped right out!

Don't judge me by my looks, I was crying out of joy for the birth of my child.

 Love this sweet baby girl.  Seeing her for the first time was so crazy.  I knew right away that she was meant to come to our family and nobody else's.  I knew that she chose to be our daughter, and that we would be a family forever.  That she would trust me to care for her, teach her, comfort her, laugh with her, and be her best friend--even if she hated me for doing so!  She gets more precious every day, and I love her more every day.

Now, that being said, there are times I wish I never had a kid and that life was how it used to be, with just me and Mark.  Like right now, as she screams her guts out in the next room because she's been trying to fall asleep for the past hour and my arms just can't rock her anymore. Why don't people tell you these things?  Why don't they tell you how much of an emotional roller coaster it is to bring a child into the world and have to take care of it 24/7?  That you'll cry out of frustration when they're upset and you can't do anything about it?  That breastfeeding is the most painful and emotionally draining thing you'll ever do?  That your body is forever messed up?  That for the first month of bringing your baby home you feel ugly, exhausted, and absolutely useless?  Am I the only one that felt that way?!  If so, just disregard this whole paragraph and enjoy the pictures of my sweet baby girl.  :)  They're not in any certain order, so just know that she's between 1 and 7 weeks old at any given moment.  I fear that if I take the time to put captions and organize them, she'll scream herself to death in the next room.