Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Story

Now that I'm home from the hospital I thought I'd tell you the whole story of Clara Mae Ricks. As with most stories, the best part is at the end so I'll try to move this along.


Saturday morning I woke up and was having contractions, but I had been having contractions all week so this was nothing new. We decided to go walking all day and see if that would get something done since my due date had come and gone. So we took the kids to Florida History Museum downtown and to Sam's Club. We walked and walked and still I was having contractions but the only thing hurting was my legs. But by Saturday evening the contractions were somewhat closer together and a little painful. So we got the kids stuff ready, made plans for Sunday in case we were gone, and put the kids to bed. By 10:30 my contractions were still really irregular, but averaged about 4 minutes apart so we called Jen Vanderhoof. I told her I wasn't sure if they would let me stay, but I didn't want to wait too long, so she came over and slept with the kids while we were gone.


We got to the hospital about midnight and luckily they let me stay. By 1:30 we were in our room and by 3:00 I had my epidural. We were both exhausted (and the hardest part was still to come) so we tried to get some sleep. The midwife came and broke my water at 4:00 and soon after I started to feel the contractions again. At little after 5:00 the nurse checked me and said, "well, your gonna have a baby!" So she got the midwife and by 5:30 I was pushing.


Now, here's where our story takes an interesting turn. I'll let Tony tell this part!


Nicole is apparently getting better and better at these things, but I'm getting worse and worse. Right before the baby was actually born I passed out in a nearby chair. I woke up to the baby crying, with two nurses taking care of me, while the midwife and other nurses were taking care of Nicole and Clara. I had a cold wash cloth on my neck and forehead and they wouldn't let me get up. I could hear Clara, but couldn't see her. Finally after I had some food and drink in my system I could get up and see Clara. I may not have seen the birth, but I was right by Nicole's side the whole time. However if by some strange sequence of events they switched Clara at birth, I would never know.


Alright, Nicole's back. Wasn't that fun! Poor Tony had been up for 20 straight hours and had nothing to eat since for almost 12. If we hadn't been surrounded by nurses I probably would have been worried, but I had a lot of other things on my mind and knew he was taken care of.


So other than that, everything went wonderfully. She was actually born at 5:39am on August 16, 2009 and was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. She was been a great baby so far. I just hope she keeps it up!





7 comments:

millerc1024 said...

What a wonderful story! Thanks Tony for staying right there no matter what!

meg said...

What a good story. I love the picture of Clara smiling. Maybe she keeps thinking of her daddy passing out. Made me smile, too. Nicole - your hair is so long and lovely.

Kim said...

I just read this after having sent you an e-mail, but wanted to comment on this too! What a funny story! She is just as beautiful as can be:)

MA said...

She's so sweet! Congratulations! Way to go Tony:) Glad it all went well.

Annette said...

Congratulation!! I headn't heard that you had her until I checked my blog today. She is a cutie! I am glad both mother and father are feeling better.

MERN said...

She is ADORABLE! I can't wait to meet her.

Unknown said...

Poor Tony!!! But you look so beautiful Nicole!!! Congrats!