everyday rhinestones: The Arrival of My Little Drama Queen {Baby Girl}

Sunday, August 5th at 2:58pm we welcomed our little girl Maci into the world. I thought my water breaking at the hair salon with our son was an interesting birth story... little did I know this girl was about to one up her brother in a big way.

My due date was Friday, August 3rd so by Saturday morning, one day overdue, I was starting to feel anxious for her to get here. That morning I began to have more painful contractions but they weren't very regular so Luke, Max and I went and had lunch and did some shopping. When we got home I needed to rest as the contractions were getting pretty uncomfortable but after laying down and timing them at about 10-12 minutes apart they simply stopped. So much for hoping that she came Saturday. To try and keep things moving I got up and made Max and Luke run some errands with me but even though the contractions were still painful they weren't getting any closer together.

The next morning (Sunday) I awoke feeling pretty discouraged. I was hoping that the day before would actually lead to something but without a contraction in sight we all got ready to head to the park. I wanted to get out of the house and get my mind off of things. While at the park around 10:30am I had to sit down a few times due to considerable pain but wasn't about to start timing anything as I didn't want to get my hopes up. After the park we went over to the grocery store to grab some items for lunch and the contractions were starting to take my breath away. I thought it was wise to begin timing them and realized that they were coming about 4-5 minutes apart. Panic started to set-in as I hurried Luke along and out of the store. On our way home they moved to about 6 minutes apart so I figured all the walking around at the park and grocery store was probably what was making them shorter. I called Luke's mom to come and get Max and once home at about 12:20pm called into the Hospital Triage to see if I should come in.

The Triage nurse talked to me for a bit and after explaining that the contractions were coming about 4-6 minutes apart she advised me to stay at home for a bit longer until they were more like 3-5 minutes apart. She also said that considering I talked to her for a few minutes and didn't need to stop for a contraction that more than likely I was in the beginning stages of labor and should wait it out a bit. I took her advice and tried to eat a small lunch. That's when things started to get even more intense.

I laid down to try and relax and time my contractions and was so discouraged to see that they were moving to about 8 minutes apart, however, they were so intense that I was screaming in pain. After an hour of this I didn't know how I was going to make it any longer so I called my mom crying. She said to call the Triage nurse back and "fib" saying that they were coming 3-5 minutes apart so I could go in. I was in so much pain that I took her advice. At 1:50pm I called the nurse back and she said that I was more than welcome to come in, it didn't mean I was going to be able to stay but they could at least check me out.

Luke and I slowly grabbed our bags and I stumbled down the hall to the car. I could barely make it 4 steps without peeling over in excruciating pain. Once in the car I tried to relax but found myself somewhat blacking out. All I know is I yelled at Luke a few times to quit looking at his phone and DRIVE! The hospital is about 20 minutes from our house and with about 10 minutes to go I started to feel as though I needed to push. Luke kept telling me that I needed to relax so when I told him what I was feeling he replied "um, I don't think you are supposed to do that yet!"

When we arrived at the hospital around 2:15pm I told Luke to park out front and go get me a wheelchair as there was no way I was going to be able to walk. I felt a little foolish about this at first as though I may be overreacting but I seriously could not walk. Once we got to Triage they kindly asked me for my name and unable to speak due to the pain I waived at Luke to fill them in. With that they rushed me into a room where I informed them of my feeling the need to push. The head Triage nurse came in at that point to check me quick before getting my information and realized that I was dilated to 9cm! Well I guess that epidural is out of the question now.

They quickly called a doctor that was there at the hospital with another one of her patients and ordered all hands on deck. They wheeled me into a delivery room not even taking the time to get my name or any other information. Soon the room was filled with people grabbing supplies and rushing around. I didn't even have a chance to realize what was going on. 5 pushes and 10 minutes later there she was! All 8lbs 11oz of her! When they told me what she weighed I was amazed and thought, no wonder that hurt so bad!

Luke started texting everyone of her arrival and I later found out that some of the texts were things like "Margaret's a pro at birthing babies" "birthing babies is easy" "10 minutes and done". To which I could only laugh at because to me, that was NOT easy, but I guess birthing a baby within 45 minutes of arriving at the hospital could make it look easy to others! :)

When my mom later heard the full story of what happened she felt guilty about her previous comment from this post where she assured me that "the baby will not fall out." She almost did in the car!

The happy ending to all of this is our beautiful little girl is super healthy, very happy and as of today a very content and easy baby. I recovered quickly and even went home from the hospital the very next day.

Max is adjusting well to having his little sister around and likes to give her "knucks" before he leaves for daycare in the morning or goes to bed at night. He also says "I heard that!" every time she makes a sound.

Luke says after how quick her birth was that I was made to have kids and we should have a couple more... I think I need a few years to warm up to that idea just yet!