David and Monica

February 8th was the day Hannah joined our family. 

I went to bed the night before, but couldn't get any sleep due to my contractions. (story of the last 3 months....) In the morning I got Dave up and told him how miserable I was. I was supposed to be induced that morning and had been waiting for a call from the nurse, "anytime after 6 am" - whatever that means! Dave ate, showered, and by then I was in a lot of pain.  We decided to call his Mom and have her come get the girls, rather than driving them to her. 

 Once we got to the hospital, Dave dropped me off at the door. I told him I'd sit and wait for him in the lobby. That lasted for about 5 seconds when my next contraction came and I thought, "AM I NUTS? I'm at the hospital!  Go get checked in and have a baby!"  

After getting checked into my room  they asked me to get in the bed. I scoffed at her and said there was NO WAY I could sit in the bed. "I'm trying to have a baby here!"  The nurse checked me and I was 7 cm along. That was when we called for an epidural ASAP. The anesthesiologist came and saved the day! Thank heavens for modern medicine, I was so exhausted and it felt amazing to take some of the pain away.

My Dr. said he'd come back in an hour and break my water. Turned out that wasn't necessary because my water broke about 5 minutes later, and then we started pushing! Hannah was born at 9:59 am, just over an hour after we got there. 

 We only stayed one night in the hospital. Everyone was happy and healthy so we headed on home! I wanted to go to my comfortable bed , a real shower, and no more "I just need to check your vitals and I'll be out of your way, honey" from all the nurses. (Bless their little hearts!)