Wonderful Things in Small Packages

A few wonderful things that come in tiny packages:

cookies, strawberries, greeting cards, cell phones, candy, checks, mint truffles, glitter, cupcakes, gift cards, fortune cookies, mp3s, jewels, perfume samples, cupcakes...and my favorite tiny package of all would be our little Hailey Brianne Lima. She was born on Monday the 8th of December at 4:57 pm. She weighed 4 lbs 13oz and at 18 inches long. She is the tiniest healthy baby I have ever seen and is the cutest little thing.

On Monday morning I woke at the usual wake up time knowing that was going to be the day I was to meet my baby girl. My due date wasn't until Dec. 27 but somehow I just knew that was the day. I wasn't in labor yet but I just knew that I needed to finish preparing her layette and be ready for her because she was on her way. So I pulled out all of Kaitlyn and Jazzie's baby clothes and went about the day preparing everything for her arrival.

At about 9:30 in the morning I realized I was having contractions but I had been having Braxton Hicks for several weeks so I just kept working away. By 10:30 I realized they were coming every 15 minutes so I decided to call my big sister. I always call my big sister during important events. In a weird way I can't experience anything significant in my life without her and I never want too. She is always there for me and I try to be there for her. She always helps make everything better. At that second she dropped everything and drove up from Santaquin to care for my girls while I went to the hospital. Thank you LaurieKae if you hadn't come when you did I would have really freaked out instead of just silently in my head every time I thought about not getting to the hospital in time for an epidural. (That almost happened with Jazzie and I didn't want to even get close to feeling those hard contractions again. Lord bless you women who want to go natural, I have no desire or think it is necessary to feel the pain of birth and I am so very thankful for the blessings of an epidural without the invention of it I do believe I would be too chicken to have a baby because I am a big wimp when it comes to enduring pain.

Anyway, after I called LaurieKae I called Tony and told him he needed to come home and take me to the hospital. After hanging up with him all I needed to do was pack my bag and I was ready to have my baby. Tony got home first and helped my prepare the girls for my absence. We explained to them that mommy was going to the hospital to get the baby out and she would be home in a couple of days. They were very excited that Aunt LaurieKae was coming with Dixie and Michael and once she arrived they didn’t seem to mind that I was leaving. They gave kisses and said goodbye with minimal amount of drama.

On the way to the hospital between contractions that were coming every few minutes, I realized that my husband didn’t seem like he believed that this was the real thing. So I asked him why he was taking a nonchalant approach and he answered saying that he didn’t believe that today was the day. For some reason this really irked me. I am ashamed to confess what I said to him in response to his suggestion that I was for real in real labor. But I said “I hate you right now” the minute I said it I regretted saying it. Here we were on our way to have our Baby. A time that could have been a wonderful time with beautiful memories and I was sabotaging the experience. My wonderful husband’s response to this comment after a brief silence was “I am glad that you said that because it tells me that this could be the real thing.” He didn’t get mad at me for being so cruel. He completely understood that I hadn’t meant what I had just said without me apologizing or doing anything of the sort. I am so glad that he didn’t allow that comment to upset him and we just moved on.

I was really hungry and knew that they would not let me eat at the hospital so I made Tony stop at the Costco that is right next to the hospital so we could get a piece of pizza and a churro. I asked him not to park but to just let me run in, purchase the food and run back out. Of course this plan did not fly with him. He wasn’t about to allow his laboring wife to run in between contractions to grab some grub before delivery

But I jumped out of the car anyway and ran into the Costco to get my food. I was up at the counter paying for my pizza by the time he was able to park the car and chase me down. I was barking orders to him left and right. “Here is your hot dog and your cup go get your…..contraction….. drink. I stood their scarfing down my pizza while he hurried to fill his cup with lemonade. I grabbed him a lid and a straw and we were running back to the car when I had pause for another contraction. I am not aware that we were noticed by anyone of the 150 people at Costco. I am sure I looked really silly a 9 month pregnant lady running through the Costco eating a pizza, pausing every other minute for a contraction refusing to be assisted by her concerned husband.

He was, to his credit, obeying my orders with exactness. It makes me fall in love with him all over again when I realized he knew exactly how to handle me and just go with it. My plan worked perfectly. I was able to stop and run into the Costco, order food, and scarf down the food on the way back to the car and was finished with it by the time I reached the hospital doors.

Tony dropped me off at the front desk and went to park the car. I was already hooked up to the monitors by the time he found me in the labor and delivery room. The nurse announced that I was dilated to a 4 and that she was going to contact my doctor. I was in the middle of another contraction when Tony asked the nurse “Does this mean we are having the baby today? She assured him that we were and left the room. Then Tony picked up the phone and called my sister to say that we were in it for the long hall. (Apparently he still doubted the reality of the situation.) I remember scolding him for making a call like that without including me.

The doctor arrived to see how things were progressing she wanted to start pitoson to hurry things along. I remember asking if that was going to cause more pain and they assured me that they would wait until after the epidural to give me the pitoson. Waiting for the anesthesiologist was like waiting for Santa. He couldn’t get there fast enough. It seemed like forever before he arrived to relieve the pain. Then it took about twenty minutes and two really strong stings before the relief came. The medication was cold flowing into my spine and it was a really weird feeling. After administering the epidural and the pitoson they left us alone to peacefully labor and wait for the time to start pushing. A few minutes later I realized I couldn’t breathe so I told Tony to go grab a nurse and tell her I was having a hard time breathing and to see if I needed an oxygen tube. When the nurse came in she instructed me to sit up instead of lying down. She assured me that I would start feeling better if a sat up. Apparently the epidural works with gravity and I was laying back and it was preventing me from feeling the oxygen flow into my lungs. Sure enough after sitting up for a few minutes I felt much better about breathing.

It wasn’t long until the doctor came back to break my water and we discovered the membranes had already ruptured. I didn’t think it was possible to have your water break and not be aware of it but it is. The only explanation I was given was that the baby’s head was laying so low in the pelvis that the head was preventing fluid from escaping. My guess is that it happened the night before while I was asleep; this is one of those questions that I will never know the answer.

Then next time the doctor came in to check me she was crowning. I remember she pulled the covers back to check things and when she announced, “Oh! We have something here! Yes! She is right here. She is crowning!” At that moment the room sprang into action. Carts with medical utensils were wheeled into the room; lights were descending from the ceiling and several nurses from the nursery entered. I remember asking for a mirror several times so I could see the event. One nurse was grabbing my left leg while Dr May was instructing my husband to hold up the other and then she asked me to push.

It was one really long push and she was born. Face up so I could see her brilliant countenance and her petite little frame. Dr. May announced that she was very tiny and requested NICU. As she clamped the cord for cutting, my mirror arrived. Immediately they took her to the back of the room where the nurses from the NICU could make their assessments. Daddy followed her lighting up the room with camera flashes. I could hear beautiful cries as they announced that her lungs were healthy and the cries were a good sign. When they finally brought her to me the nurse placed her in my arms and explained that she needed to take her up to the NICU because her temperature was very low. So I treasured the moment before handing her back to the nurse. Tony kissed me goodbye and off they went to the NICU. Although the room was still full of people buzzing around and the doctor was stitching up some minor ripping I felt very lonely in the room without Tony and our sweet baby.

While in the NICU they performed several tests to ensure that she was healthy. Daddy said she passed every test with flying colors. She was just really cold and needed to get her temperature up. When she was all warmed up they brought her into me. They arrived just in time to see roll me onto a gurney to take me from the labor and delivery room to my hospital room. Daddy and baby followed behind me all the way to my room. Once inside our room we were able to sit down and really enjoy our new little girl.

One of my favorite things about Hailey is she loves her Daddy. She cracks a smile or responds in some adorable way almost every time she hears her Daddy's voice. Almost without fail she responds to him when she realizes he is around. It has happened too many times to be a coincidence.