Happy Birthday Leilani!

Eight years ago today, after experiencing a week's worth of Braxton Hick's contractions that were beyond bearable, Mike and I decided to go to the hospital to see if a little Pitocin would do the trick to get me dialating.

At 9am, Dr. Sconzo prescribed a Pitocin drip and said we should be having a baby by that evening. It just so happen that it was a full moon out and 16 other patients from the same practice were due to deliver thier babies that very same day! I settled in and let the meds do thier work.

Boy do they ever work! I called the nurse over and told her I was ready for the big boys! Epidural here I come. She convinced me to get some demoral instead. What a joke that is! Although I have never been addicted to any type of illegal substance, haven't even been curious to say the least, the way this drug made me feel, has to be how an addict feels on a high. Segments of the 2 hour period I was on these meds are totally unrecalled to me to this day. What I do remember is each and every INTENSE contraction! What's the point, right? So once the drugs had worn off a bit and I was coherent enough to call the nurse over, I told her I'd like my drug of choice. She asked if I would like to try some more of the Demorol. No thanks Maam, I want the very best!

The God of pain relief was called in, and he reluctantly gave me what I wanted. (He was upset that each and every one of the practices patients wanted the good stuff. This means he would be staying in the hospital till the wee hours since he can not leave till each and every patient he administered and Epi to had delivered. He told me to bend over and in 2 seconds the needle was i and I instantly felt relieve. Thank the Lord for Epidurals!

Meanwhile, a woman across the hall was screaming bloody murder for hours. Doc took a break from her to come in and check on me. I was 6 CM dialated. He broke my bag of waters and told me it seems I did not meed the Pitocin anymore. He'll be back in a bit. I told my MIL to please close the door since the lady delivering across the hall was giving me thoughts of requesting a C-Section instead.

At about 2:30pm, I started feeling this intense pressure. As though I had to push. The nurse called doc back in, he checked me again, and he exclaimed that I was 10 CM dialated. Wow! He was estimating I would be giving birth at least by 6pm. Not the case. He asked me to push and I did, and he said "OK, you look to be a VERY good pusher, let me go check on your neighbor to see if she is ready to finally push her baby without. By the looks of it he was back 10 minutes later and she wasn't progressing with the pushing. Everyone prepped the room around me , the doc got in his scrubs, the baby warmer was warmed up and it was showtime. PUSH! And 3 good pushes later, at 3:06pm, Leilani Nicole made her grand entrance into the world!

And here we are 8 years later! I distinctly remember the doctor placing her warm little body on mine as though it were yesterday. In the blink of an eye, they grow up! Happy birthday to my baby girl! Today was all about you, hope you loved your day at the American Girl New York, and all the other treats you got along the way. We love you so much!