December 25th-the unforgettable day

I am going to write out Hallel's birth story mostly so that I won't forget it but for those of you who want to be amused here goes the unforgettable 27hrs.

On December 23rd Josh and I went to the mall and walked around for two hours while waiting for our movie to start. I started having some small contractions while walking and was pretty excited. We saw the movie Four Christmas's and laughed a lot and then had a yummy dinner at Applebee's where I continued to have contractions. We thought that we might even have to leave our dinner and head for the hospital but we managed to eat everything! We then came home and had a quiet night with no contractions and thank the Lord, some really good rest.

The next morning I had the urge to clean the house so Josh and I spent the next few hours working our little hearts out. Right after Josh made us some scrumptious ramen soup (my craving) I started having contractions and these were definitely the real thing. I knew right away that I wanted to have an epidural and Josh started helping me breathe through the contractions. They came on strong and never stopped until she was born. They started out about 5min a part and within 1/2hr Josh called the hospital because the contractions were already 2min a part.

We both remember feeling like the city was farther away then usual and traffic was the heaviest we had seen. I was just closing my eyes trying to breath and looking up at the trees and sky near Sausalito trying to concentrate.

At the hospital they put me in a wheel chair in the emergency room and I immediately burst into tears. I don't know if it was the pain, the reality of labor or the emergency room where every one was staring at me. Josh was so fast at parking I couldn't believe it and he almost never left my side the next 24hrs. He was the best coach and husband I could have asked for!

We were in triage for what seemed like forever with another couple. All I remember were intense contractions, lots of breathing and counting, and nurses asking for my ID which was in the car. Finally, we were moved to our own room and they gave me the epidural. Relief at last! We spent the night watching the monitor for contractions almost every 2 minutes as mine were the strongest out of any one's on the monitor all night long. Thank the Lord for epidurals!!! Because it was Christmas eve the Dr's and nurses had shorter shifts so through out the night we met about 6 different Dr's and 6 different nurses. The awesome part was that they were all soooo nice and amazing at their job, we were well taken care of. One of my favorite memories of the night wait was hearing Hallel's heart beat on the monitor so steady. It brings tears to my eyes to think about it. The nurses kept saying that she was such a strong baby to have such a healthy heart beat through some strong contractions. We were already proud parents of our little girl and couldn't believe this miracle was happening. I also remember feeling a sense of family and friends praying for us through the entire experience, a great support!

I was dilating a cent. per hr, right on schedule, and we were to deliver at 1 or 2 am. I just kept praying for strength and calm nerves and trying to sleep. Josh and I were both adrenalized. Well, 2am came and went and we were stuck at an 8 until about 9am and the epidural wore off. Then came pain and potosin to get me to a 10. Oh the contractions! I got to a 10 and my water finally broke. They realized that Hallel was turned sideways so the nurse had me start pushing on my side, more pain. She turned, thankfully, and we then pushed for the next 4 1/2hrs. most of the time with the bar doing sit ups. (I don't understand why my stomach still has flab because I have never done so many sit ups in my life:) I kept getting the hiccups I guess from gasping air, weird stuff happens in labor.

The Dr's. were discussing the options while I was trying to breathe and just plain exhausted from pushing and no food for 24hrs. While my dear husband knew I was getting to the end of my rope would lean down and tell me in a calm voice, "Stacy, the Lord is with you, you can do this."

Dr Lamar made the final decision to head to the operating room and try one time with the vacuum and if that didn't work than go ahead with a c-section. My nurse, who was in a hurry was trying to be expedient as I was still having intense contractions bumped into every wall the whole way there. I wanted to revoke her gurney driving license then and there. The next thing that I remember were about 15 heads huddled around me saying, "push as if it is the last time that you will ever push again. I pushed and they were able to get enough of her head out for the vacuum to work so I pushed through 2 more contractions and suddenly her head was out and there was much excitement in the room. The next second was like a huge relief as I could feel her body just slide right out and at last the contractions stopped! I could take a breath and actually talk. They put Hallel on a cart and cleaned her up while they stitched me up. It was one of those priceless moments when I looked over to see my baby and saw my sweet husband wiping away tears of love. After awhile they brought her to me and we had our first official meeting. All that I remember was that Hallel opened her eyes and just looked straight in to my eyes as if to say, "You are the one whose voice I have been hearing, hello mother." It was a special moment and Josh and I can't get over her yet!

Well, that's our story. Or rather, just the beginning...

Brand new baby Hallel

Our little sweet pea