on this day in history

after going to bed late on monday night, i woke up at 1am with some fairly strong and persistent pain. i laid in bed for a while trying to decide what to do, and at 1:32am it happened.

hank... hank... i think my water just broke.

within 20 seconds i was sure of it. and out the door we went. contractions were just 2 or 3 minutes apart, but i was feeling pretty good and super anxious. we arrived at the hospital, and i was taken to a room where they checked my progress. at 4cm and with consistent contractions one of the nurses announced to me, "oh good, you get to stay!"

i get to stay?! of course i get to stay. i'm labor lady!

turns out they end up sending about 50% of people back home because they've jumped the gun on going to the hospital. who knew?

from there things moved pretty rapidly; by 6am i was at 8cm and on meds, which i had decided to get after throwing up several times due to the pain. i was nervous about it. i was afraid of giving up total control of my body. thankfully i could still move my own legs, still feel every contraction, and even bear some weight on them. we were in good shape.

well then i got stuck. or should i say we got stuck. we didn't move from 8cm for the next 9 hours. after unsuccessful attempts at progression with some strong doses of pitocin, the doctor recommended a c-section. this tiny little human just wasn't quite tiny enough to fit through the natural passage way to make her entrance into the world. so after the doc's talk at 3pm, we were in the OR and i was under the knife within 20 minutes. it happened so fast and the nurses and doctors were moving so quickly that i almost started to panic that something was wrong. of course, nothing was. these people do this for a living. they're good at it. they're fast at it. almost too fast.

i remember lying on the table starving to death and the doctors kept talking about their lunch and going to burger king. so badly i wanted to say, will you please stop talking about food???

hank was next to me the whole time, looking over the sheet occasionally, his finger on the shutter button of the camera. and then it happened. she was here.

at 3:30pm on March 9, 2010 our little Beth was born. pulled right from my stomach and with that first cry immediately enriched our lives. hank and i both shed tears of joy as we held her close between us for the first time. it was unreal. one of the most amazing moments of my life. hands down.





and here we, one year later and now she seems like a little girl and no longer a baby. man, time flies. fa-lies. but she still makes us just as happy as she did on day one. she's also learning how to make us crazy at times, but we love her just the same. she bring us so much love and joy.

so here's to you little missy. we sure love you. more than you'll ever know. and can't wait to see what this next year brings.

happy birthday beth van orden.

(photos taken just last night - getting ready for the big day)