Sorry that I haven't posted in a while... I'm going to start with Manning's birth, and I promise to catch up with the rest sometime this week. So here it goes...After being in early labor with spontaneous contractions for 7 days, the time finally came when the harder contractions started to hit... they actually started coming on Saturday, Nov. 21, but I'm so hard-headed that I didn't want to go to the hospital. I had just been sent home too many times and wanted to make sure it was time when I went back. The next morning (Sunday, Nov. 22), Cody and my mom kept pushing me to go to the hospital because I would be doing something and bend over in pain and stop talking... this had been going on for hours, but again, I'm stubborn when it comes to pain/doctors. I finally called the hospital to ask which doctor was on call... Mine wasn't, but my second favorite doctor, Dr. Crenshaw was. After several long debates with my mom, I eventually took a shower and decided to give in. I seriously didn't think that these were "real" contractions, because for some reason, I thought that if I was in labor, I'd be screaming and in serious pain. Well, after our hour drive to Germantown Methodist hospital, I got checked in and the moment came to be checked for progress. I had dialated 4 centimeters, and the doctor decided to keep me. I checked in the hospital at 10:00 a.m., and the nurse informed me that we'd be having a c-section around 12 p.m. I will never forget her coming in the room and saying "You're going to have a baby today!" At that moment, my mom burst into tears and a wave of fear overcame my whole body. I knew this moment was coming, but it hit me like a ton of bricks... I instantly started thinking millions of thoughts... "what if I am paralyzed by the spinal block? what if it hurts? will my baby be ok? can I do this? did I shave my legs? Is Cody going to pass out?" Seriously, I was scared out of my mind for a while there. Then, I remembered that God was with me and that everything would be ok. While I was reassuring myself of this, I realized that my pain was getting really intense and then my water broke. My water broke about 30 minutes after I got to the hospital, so thank goodness my smart mom & hubby had sense enough to get me to a doctor.
In the meantime, my family was scurrying trying to make it to Memphis in time. They all got up and walked out of church because we were given such a short notice that Manning was about to arrive. They all made it just in time due to an emergency c-section that delayed my time to 12:30 p.m. After they wheeled me to the OR, Manning was born at 12:52 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs, 11oz, and measured 21 inches long. I will never forget the joy that overcame me when I heard my baby boy cry for the first time. Minutes later, the nurses showed him to me and tears streamed down my face. I cried so much that the anesthesiologist kept asking me if I was in pain, but I reassured him that they were happy tears... I've never been so happy in my entire life. Cody was busy taking pictures and filming, so he never even came close to passing out! I just remember praying and thanking God for such a sweet miracle and for blessing our family.
After about an hour in recovery, I finally got to meet and hold my precious baby for the first time and had a huge audience. I was blessed to have a whole host of family & friends waiting to meet him as well. Of course, I couldn't keep from crying the entire time I held him and kissed all over him.
Cody and I stayed at the hospital for two nights and three days, and we spent lots of quality time together and with our precious son. We spent most of our time talking about how we made such a perfect little person and how amazing God truly is. We also learned lots of important things like how to take care of a baby... Cody was great and took over those duties since I was basically out of commission from surgery. After our stay in the hospital, we were released on Tuesday just in time for Thanksgiving, and this is when our journey of parenthood began... I will post more about our experiences later.... stay tuned!
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