I'm So Happy I Could Twirl! Look! A Baby Girl!

July 17th 2006 started exactly how I knew it would. I had been going into false labor multiple times in a two week period. So eventually my OB decided to go ahead and induce labor and July 17th was the set date. My actual due date was the 21st so she was only a couple of days early.

Mike and I woke up very early to get to the hospital 6:00 am. We arrived at the hospital, got settled into a room, and met my nurse, Amy. She joked with me about how since she worked mornings, she hardly ever got to see the babies born since her shift ended at 1:00 pm. I told her not to hold her breath since I was in labor with Alex for over 14 hours. A little later, Dr. Evitt came in and started my labor.

Labor pains started around 8:oo and I very quickly realized that they were coming a lot faster than with Alex. Around 10:30 I ordered my epidural and I think it was about 11:00 when I got it. I figured we had a while to wait so we put "The Mummy" on since it's one of my favorite movies. I was really surprised when about 12:00pm I started feel like I needed to push. We called nurse Amy in and what do you know, it was time to start!

One problem though. Dr. Evitt was not in the building. So while we waited for Dr. Evitt the nurses got things ready for Lauren's arrival. Little Lauren didn't want to wait though. The nurses kept telling me not to push and instead breath through the contractions (any women who have ever had a child will know this is torture), since they really wanted Dr. Evitt to deliver her. I think it had something to with the fact that when they broke my water there was meconium so they wanted a doctor present.

I could hear Dr. Evitt running down the hallway. She came in, got ready, and made sure we were ready to go. I pushed two times and at 12:50pm Lauren Lynda Hill made her appearance. They looked her over and gave her an apgar score of 10 which is perfect! She had a callus on her wrist and her thumb from sucking on them in the womb (she still sucks her thumb). She weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. Her eyes were gray and her hair was actually very brown.

Ever since that day our sweet girl has been making us smile and laugh.