A few more highlights from Labor & Delivery:

• I went from 2 to 10 centimeters dilated in 2 hours.  Yay, uterus and cervix!
• While I was napping after the epidural, Charles was sitting at the table next to my bed eating Fritos.  The sound of him crunching those deliciously delectable chips while I had been starved for the last 16 hours was especially repulsive so I politely asked him to “finish the bag already!”
• When I expressed feeling intense pressure the second time, the nurse checked me and her eyes got really wide – she told me she needed to call the Doctor immediately because the baby was practically out.  I replied to her reaction by saying, “Have you ever done this before?”  But I didn’t mean it like that!  I meant, had she delivered a baby by herself before?  If not, there was a first time for everything, I guess!  Thankfully, she had, so I grabbed her hand and said, “Let’s do this!”
• When AJ (literally) flew out of me, I yelled, “What was that?!” because all I could feel was exactly what I felt after POB broke my water – like I was sitting in a puddle of pee.  Charles thought my comment was hilarious, and laughingly responded, “It’s our baby!”

Post baby delivery, the medical team did everything for me that they’re supposed to do before the baby comes, and the “after” stuff too.  While POB was doing her thing, Charles and I got to hold AJ and spend time together as our new family of three.  Once I was all fixed up, our team took AJ to weigh, measure and bathe her, and Charles and I picked out an outfit for her to wear.

Once Miss AJ was all fixed up our family came in to meet the little princess.  It was very emotional for us to see our family, and for our family to see us with our stillborn angel.  As soon as each person entered the room and saw Charles and I holding our baby they began to cry, and we cried with them.  And we smiled, too!  We were all sad, of course, but happy to have been blessed with a beautiful baby and first grandchild on both sides of our families.  After our family had all met AJ, our priest recited the Trisagion Prayers with our families and nursing staff in the room.  My dad stood next to me (lying in the bed) and held my hand the whole time.  My Aunt and Godmother, Tammy, held AJ during the prayer service, as she was AJ’s Godmother also.

My Sito holding her first great-grandchild.

My mom, Charles’ mom & Aunt Tammy with AJ.

After we spent some more time with our family the hospital photographer was there to take AJ’s picture.  We had so much fun with the amazingly talented photographer and the nurses who hung around to help us pose AJ and give her cute props.  This time was extremely special for Charles and I to be able to spend it with just the three of us, documented.

At one point during our family meeting AJ and our pictures being taken, Charles said to me, “I think your friend Katie is in here…in the hallway.”  Although Charles had never met Katie, he was right!  One of my newest but dearest friends had come to the hospital just to check on us, with no intention of seeing us, but I certainly wanted to see her!  (Reminder:  Katie is also the mommy of a T18 baby boy, Brantley, who passed last year).  While we were having our pictures taken, Katie was hanging out in the waiting room with my family…whom she had never met…for like an hour.  (Later that day, everyone told me how awesome she is and how lucky I am to have a friend like her, which couldn’t be more true!)  Katie visited with us in our room and got to hold AJ (my one regret of the day is that we didn’t get a picture of them!).  It was indescribable to have someone there with us that had been a rider on this exact rollercoaster.  She is the strongest woman I know, and I am beyond blessed to have her present in my life and in AJ’s.

Finally, in the early evening, we moved out of our Delivery Room to a regular room (in the nice tower!).  We said goodbye to AJ for the time being, even though we could see her any time we wanted, we just had to ask.  It was hard seeing the nurse wheel her away, but we knew that what we had was just a body.  Our AJ was no longer confined to her incomplete body; she was bigger than her body and this world.  While I could have held her little body forever that day, I knew everything I had and needed of her was in my heart, and she was with the ultimate protector.

In our new room Charles and I ate dinner, walked a quarter mile (around the Nurse’s Station) to get things moving and healing, and were surprised by some visitors.  My older brother and sister-in-law brought milkshakes from Graeter’s (praise these people!), and Charles’ youngest brother flew in from Boston that night to see us.  It took a village before, during and after our pregnancy, and it especially did the day of delivery.  We are so thankful for our village – you guys rock!

{I didn’t sleep well that night, for two reasons – the obvious being the constant poking and prodding hospitals are notorious for.  I can thank my mind for keeping me awake the rest of the time.  I knew I was going home the next morning and was hopeful that sleep would be better there (ha, not so much, my friends!).  Thankfully, the Doctor did discharge me the next day, and we arrived home around 1pm.  We knew we would have a busy next couple of days preparing for AJ’s funeral and burial, which I will write about next.  For now, some more of Mommy & Daddy with AJ.}