One year ago!

One year ago today Sophie was born. How crazy is that?! I can't believe it was one year ago. I can't believe she's a year old. How did that happen? Where did the time go? How do I get it to slow down? That ridiculous saying you hear all the time as a new mum really is correct - the days are long but the years are short. I feel like I need longer in this first year!

I decided, in honor of Sophie's first birthday, and since I haven't done it yet, I want to post about her birth. Don't worry, I won't go into the gory details, I promise! But there were some great moments, and I want to keep them in my mind so I don't forget them!

Puffy and bloated but MAN did I think I looked cute! I LOVED being pregnant!

Lets start the Friday before. It's two days before my due date, I'm SUPER pregnant, but feeling great and like I'm going to stay pregnant for another month! At least! I was convinced I was going to be super late and wouldn't give birth until the 30th or something like that. I haven't had any of the tell-tale signs of labor, no Braxton-Hicks, nothing. So at my doctor's appointment, I'm incredibly skeptical when my lovely Doctor tells me to prepare because she's guessing I'll go into labor that weekend and have my baby by Monday. Hah! What does she know? I waddle home, content in the thought that I'll be pregnant forever, and as Friday and Saturday pass with zero signs of anything happening, I feel pretty good about being right.

Cue to 2:54am on Sunday morning. I wake up to back pain? Cramps? What turns out to be a contraction. I heave my whaleness out of bed and my water breaks. Which, by the way, definitely feels like I'm peeing my pants. Oops sorry. I promised no gory details. I have a contraction, but I just shrug it off and lumber back to bed. But I'm woken just a few minutes later by another contraction. Blast. I get out of bed, put on my nightgown, and decide to do a few laps around the kitchen. Daisy is staying the weekend, and I briefly wake her up, but don't tell her whats going on. Whats the point? This is gonna take DAYS, right? Doesn't labor last at least 12 hours?

About half an hour has passed and I'm thinking I should start timing these bad boys, just for fun. They're pretty close together, which is a bit of a surprise. 3-4 minutes close together. But I've read the baby books, and I know that the first stage of labor can last ages, so I'm probably just tired and confused. I decide to wake Steve up and have him time it for me. He's a tad grumpy at being woken up, but agrees to help me. At this point (3:45am) they're only 3 minutes apart, max, and 45 seconds long. Steve persuades me that maybe it's time to go to the hospital. I stall him a bit, but by 4:15 he's persuaded me. We wake up Mum and Dad, let them know I'm going to get checked, and maybe Mum should come too. We don't bother waking Daisy, because, again, it's probably nothing!

We get to the Issaquah Swedish hospital at around 5am, and it's GORGEOUS. Like a hotel! They check me out and decide that I'm in full blown labor, and get us into a labor room by 5:30am. A random male doctor shows up to try and check me out but I just give him a dirty look and ignore him. I'm waiting for my doctor, I don't need him to tell me I'm in labor.

Everything's been going great at this point. Contractions are easy, breezy, I'm handling it like a champ. Until suddenly it's NOT OKAY. I had planned on no epidural at all, and holy moly batman. It was all Steve and my mum could do to keep me from charging to the nurses station and smacking people around until they gave me one. I was yelling at them that it hurt way too much, this is crazy, Dr. Bradley is a big fat liar and he can shove his method you know where. At one point I told them I was getting an epidural after I went to the bathroom. When I came out, they were both looking at me with fear in their eyes, and informed me that they'd talked about it while I was in the bathroom and had decided that I couldn't have an epidural. I had to stick through it because that's what I'd told them earlier. Yeesh. Thanks guys. Also, at one point, my Mum leaned over to Steve and said "it probably isn't that bad, she's always been a bit of a drama queen." Thanks, Mum.

The nurse was finally taking me seriously, and told me she'd check me out and then if I really wanted an epidural, they'd let me get one. Thank GOODNESS. I could have kissed her. But that wasn't to be. I was ready to push! They called my doctor, and I was so happy to see her. It was time to get down to business!

Again, I'll spare you the gory details, but let me tell you - pushing was my FAVORITE part. The pain went away, I was hyper focused, and just so concentrated on getting my daughter out. Which is really good, because it was apparently a slow labor day, and at one point there were 6 nurses just hanging out watching me. One of the nurses actually called another nurse over because she was just standing around. I'm pretty sure by the end of it they were passing around popcorn and milk duds.

Babies get reeeeally grouchy during the whole birth thing.

And Sophie was born! I got to pull her out which was INCREDIBLE. She didn't breath properly right away - they had to encourage her a bit to take a deep breath. But then she did, and they gave her to me, and she was SO BEAUTIFUL. A purple, slightly slimy, absolute miracle. She looked so cute from the start - not nearly as puffy and alien as I'd expected! The crazy thing was when they announced time of birth. 8:19am on April 19th, her due date. I couldn't believe it. Barely 3 hours after we'd arrived at the hospital that little nutter was born! Only 5 and a half hours after I started! Imma be honest - I felt like I'd been working for a lot longer than that!

Cutest Dad award!

One of my favorite parts was getting to see Steve hold Sophie - he looked slightly scared and so so so sweet! So happy! She was 8lbs even, 21 inches long, and looked tiny in his arms. It was amazing!

Daisy and Sophie snuggles!

The other funny story from that morning Steve told me after the fact. He went to tell my Dad and Daisy that Sophie had been born and we were ready for visitors. Daisy apparently jumped right out of her seat and started walking very fast - the wrong way! Steve had to tell her to turn around! She was so excited to meet Sophie, she was gonna get there as fast as possible, even though she had no clue where she was going! Jon, Thomas, and Kyla came a few hours later, and I was just in heaven with my beautiful little baby!

With Grandpa!

Pointy pictures are vital!

Uncle Jon!

Thomas and Kyla!

Grandma and Daisy!

One of the hardest parts of it was not getting to go home right away. I wanted to get my baby home and not worry about doctors and nurses and whatever else. They wouldn't let us leave until the next day around 1:30pm. I was so frustrated, I just wanted to get home! They wanted to monitor Sophie for a bit longer though.

Love!

Also, word to the wise, don't bring jeans to wear home from giving birth. Bad idea.

Cutest. Baby. Ever.

Most of it is honestly a bit of a blur, but I was just so amazed at how instant my love was for this little girl. How immediately I felt like she was meant to be with me. How incredibly strong my bond with her was right away. How grateful I was that I had been entrusted with her care! She is the greatest little being and man, oh man, do I love her!

Family Photo!