Same day, different year, much better

The Sprite, Jello, and popsicle wrapper you see on this table would later come back to haunt me!

See? Not feeling too great here...

Smiling for the camera, but just not feeling it!

G & G Odle trying to thaw out!

While I was trying to cool off!

She finally made it here!

Not looking too great here...very sick afterwards!

Proud daddy

Proud G & G

It was finally my turn! Actually, I finally felt good enough to hold her!

Well folks, it was a year ago today that I woke Andy up at 4:00 a.m. with horrible back pain and cramping. Of course I wasn't sure if it meant I was in labor since I hadn't ever experienced it before, but I knew something had changed in how I'd been feeling. I was very uncomfortable so we got up and started timing the discomfort. Sure enough, I was having contractions five minutes apart! After sitting around for a couple hours, I called mom and dad just to give them a heads up that something was amiss. I took a shower and got ready, picking up the house one final time before we came back home with a baby...or at least I was hoping that was the case! I called the doctor's office at 8:30 and told them my symptoms (I was supposed to have an appointment that afternoon). The nurse told me I should probably go to the hospital, so we finished packing and took off. By 9:00a.m. the contractions were still 5 minutes apart and getting stronger. We arrived at the hospital, checked in, and were taken to the "evaluation room" that had 3 small beds crammed into one room. This was not the most pleasant experience ever...one different nurse after another would come and check on us every once in a while. They said I was only dilated to 1cm and it could be false labor. I wanted to pinch their little heads off and scream, "Well, if this is false labor, just shoot me now!" Finally around 2:00p.m. a savior of a nurse got me the heck outta there and took me to a labor and delivery room. Thank you, Lord! Although I was still in a lot of pain, beings they had only given me vicodin, which did nothing, I was much relieved to have my own comfortable room and a nurse that cared. This take-charge nurse got an I.V. going and got the ball rolling for an epidural and catheter. Now, let me just say, for those of you who've had an epidural and think it's the best thing since sliced bread...it never actually worked for me! Yeah, that's right, only one half of my body was out of pain for a brief period of time. And there was a leak in the medicine drip, so I was not receiving all of it. The anesthesiologist would not redo it, either. By the evening, everyone, including me, wanted to get the show on the road, but Amelia would not cooperate. I was still only dilated to a 3, and my water had not broken. Dr. Jones finally came in to break it sometime during the night and things started progressing....slowly! Looking back, I feel sorry for Andy, his parents, his brother, and my parents as I was a bit grouchy, to say the least. I never got the "Oh, I feel great" relief that most people get after an epidural. I couldn't eat, talk, anything...all I could do was lay there, concentrate on breathing, oh, and let me not forget...throw up! Oh yes, I managed to throw up throughout labor as well. Very pleasant, I might add. Back to my supporters...I was freezing them out of the room as the heat continued to roll off my body. Andy and my mom actually strapped ice packs to my feet! Amelia was being closely monitored with an internal fetal monitor and I had to wear oxygen because her heart rate kept slowing down without it. FINALLY, around 3:00 a.m. I was dilated to a 10, but after being in labor for 23 hours-hard contractions 5 minutes apart the whole 23 hours, I was too exhausted to do anything, so I fell asleep! My peeps were like, "What the heck?!" FINALLY, again, at 5:00 a.m. I was ready to push. Dr. Jones came in and out checking on me and had to turn Amelia over as she was upside down. Well, I pushed and pushed for 2 hours and she took her sweet little time! Amelia Marie Odle was finally born at 7:09 a.m. on July 10, 2009, after 27 hours of labor, weighing in at 8 pounds, 3.4 ounces and 21 inches long. But the story doesn't end there...I was so sick afterwards, I couldn't even hold her. I was still throwing up!!! Crazy, right? Hmmmm, next time around, I'll take a c-section, please! Everything turned out just fine, with a perfectly healthy baby, so I can't complain too much. I know there are women that have experienced worse, but I also know many women who have had wonderful, short deliveries, or better yet, almost painless c-sections! I'll leave out the gory details that would turn most of your stomachs inside out, but the recovery was not so hot, either. Let's just say I'm SO HAPPY to be feeling great today and not to be laying in the hospital in labor. No, I'm ECSTATIC to be in the condition I am today and to have a beautiful, healthy, almost one-year-old!