First, I had to go resign from my job in Oxford. I am teaching at Central Junior High, 7-8th grade math. And even though I am so thankful for this opportunity, it was very hard to leave Oxford. Jay had to take his very overdue, overemotional wife to resign from her job. I had to wear my sunglasses because I was crying so hard when I walked in. Thankfully, Morrison took me in the office where I broke down even harder and told him I was leaving. He was so funny- he said, " Are you having a baby today? " I said," Yes( through tears)!" He said," Then why are you here and why are you worried about us? You have to make decisions now for you that are the best for your family." I felt a little better when that part was over.
Jay thought I deserved Waffle House after that. Jaylie, we ate at every Waffle House between here and Birmingham when we were going back and forth to UAB to have you. So it was fitting that we ate there before you were born.
When we got home, I cleaned. We swam in the pool, took a long nap- Jay, Scruffy and I. I had to write my resignation letter to send in to make my leaving official. Then, Jay and I finished putting up some decking on our back porch. Yes, you heard it right.... we worked. What was the worse thing that could happen? Labor was what I was thinking, but no.
I was so emotional from resigning from Oxford and texting all my wonderful peeps from Oxford telling them the news. Mom told me that afternoon," Ollie, you have got to quit crying. You are having a baby today."
Mom and I went and picked up Captain D's chicken. I love it especially pregnant. We ate and then started getting ready. I didn't put on makeup. I really wanted too but knew it was pointless.
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Jay and I left for the hospital at about 7:35. We stopped at the Mapco- where I got a red slushie and some gum.
We got to RMC and walked right in. From 8 until 10, I got an IV, hooked up to all kind of wires and was told that I would start the thinning medicine at 10:15. So,I did and they would come check me and say I was still closed which is not good. At 2:15, they started Pitocin. 4:15, they checked me and I was a 1. I started having contractions after the Pitocin and by 6:00 they were really strong. Josh, Stephanie and Hannah got there around 6:30. Mom, Dad and Josh came not long after and David and Christi were on their way.
Pictures from the day while they waited. They all had to wait such a long time.
The nurses offered me an epidural at 6. Oh no! I am not taking it- I don't want it to slow things down.
The contractions continued to get worse and it seemed like they were coming ever minute.
At 8:45, Dr. Ballard comes in to break my water. She said," Girl, you are going to wish you had an epidural when I break your water." It really didn't hurt that bad but I was still just a 2. I was upset and Dr. Ballard said I needed to take the epidural because I needed to relax- maybe it would help. She already had Paul, epidural man, already in there.
They send everyone out and I started squalling. I was so scared of the epidural- so scared. I cried and cried. Everyone was really nice to me and in the end, the epidural was not as bad as I thought. Next time around, I will probably take it when I walk in the door.
After the epidural, they wouldn't let me have anything to drink but ice chips because I knew they were preparing me for a C-section. The epidural made me tired and cold. I was in and out of sleep. Around 12 or 1, Dr. Ballard came back and checked me and I was still a 2. I looked at her and said," Just tell me...I am going to have a C-section."
She said," I could be wrong but I think you are. You are just not progressing. We are going to try and up your Pitocin again to help but baby didn't respond well to it when we tried earlier. And if she does that again we are going to have to get her out. "
They had not told me that Jaylie was not responding well to the Pitocin- so naturally now I am scared. Dr. B said, " By 5 we have got to have this baby."
The nurses turned me on my side first my right and then my left. At 3:00, they checked me. The nurse said," What do you think you are?" Sarcastically- I said," A 2" She said, " Umm, no you are a 7!!"
I really couldn't believe it.!!
At this point, I had already, in my mind, prepared for a C-section and I was like- well I don't really care at this point- I'll have her or I will have a C-section and I proceeded to put on my makeup-which Jay thought was really stupid.
5 pm rolls around and I was fully dilated. It. was. a. miracle. Dr. Ballard was on her way.
Mom, Dad, Christi and Stephanie came back in the room to see us before we started.
Life was about to change so naturally- I had to cry about it.
5:20 Dr. Ballard comes in and she checks me and says, "Whoa- lets start pushing."
Pushing was a lot harder than I thought. I thought it would be easy, given the epidural, but it was a lot of hard work. Thank the Lord that I did not have to push long.
Jaylie was born at 5:43 pm to me screaming," Oh my Goodness! Look at her. I can't believe it." ( This is what Jay said I screamed- I have no idea!) They took her for just a few minutes to clean her off and then laid her on my chest.
I could not believe that she was here and that she was ours. It still does not seem real.
We did Kangaroo care for an hour or so and after a little while we called our mothers in to come see her and watch the first bath. I told Mom and Christi that when the bath was done her Daddy had to hold her for the first time.
To see her with Jay...still makes me tear up months later. And I think it always will.
Mom, Dad, Josh, David, Christi, Josh, Stephanie, Hannah, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Ricky and Greg were all waiting to see Jaylie. I wish I would have videoed everyone seeing her- I got pictures but it would have been so cool to watch that again.
Everyone was gone about 9:15 or so. The nurses were back in there checking on Jaylie.
And they started profiling my child: " Because she is so big, she needs her sugar checked."
What? Just because "she big". She was gone for 2 hours. In the middle of her being gone, they come to tell me that she is too cold and is under the heat for a little bit. She finally got back close to midnight. Then they tell us that I had a fever right after she was born so they needed to check her blood and because she is "so big" that they had a hard time getting a vein and would have to check it again the following morning. That turned into a two day process.
Jay went to sleep- he was exhausted. I had Jaylie. From the moment she was born, she did not like to lay down by herself. I promise. I had her all night on me. At one point, my, still asleep, right leg fell off the bed and I couldn't move it to get it back on the bed. She was nursing and Jay snored as I kept calling," Jay, Jay, help."
It is so funny how, after the first day of being born, she looked so different to me. She didn't look big to me just long. And her face really started clearing up. When she was first born, I thought she had the red mark on her face. Jay thought her ears were messed up because one was sticking out and the other was flat against her head. All of these things would have been okay if they stayed, but we were thankful it all went back to normal. She still has red marks on her eyelids, between her eyes and on the back of her head.
