May 24, Ten years ago

Ten years ago today I became a mother for the 2nd time.

Ten years ago today we were blessed with the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Peanut.

At 36 weeks it was discovered that I was already 3 cm dilated. Thus began the accelerated anticipation of her arrival. I made it to the 39th week and an induction was scheduled. I'm a bit of a control freak so it was important to me to know the date. I wanted my mother present and my older son to be with his favorite former neighbor/pseudo grandmother "Miss Jan." I also wanted MY OB to be the attending physician. The pregnancy had been an easy one, medically speaking, but a very difficult one for me emotionally, due to reasons having nothing to do with the pregnancy. I knew my OB personally through mutual friends and I was very attached to her. She made it clear with every OB visit that she was just as invested in my emotional well-being as she was the state of my pregnancy. I wanted her and only her to deliver our daughter. So the date was set.

We followed the Dr's instructions for arriving at the hospital just after midnight and got settled in. The night nurse took care of all the blood work and other things required before beginning an induction. Around daybreak they gave me a tiny pill to put under my tongue to jumpstart any contractions before the pitocin was started in my IV. Missy, my OB, arrived around 7:30am to break my water.

Around 8am my husband's childhood friend and also our pediatrician stopped by. He sat down to chat with us for a while. My labor nurse poked her head in around 8:20am to check on me. She still hadn't started the pitocin but I was already having some pretty hard contractions that I could feel even with an epidural. We were having fun visiting with Dr. John so my nurse slipped quietly out of the room. About 8:40am she poked her head back in. When she saw that Dr. John was still there, she disappeared again. About 10 minutes later she opens the door again and had a rather urgent look on her face. At that point, Dr. John realizes that he needs to step out and make his rounds so my nurse could tend to whatever she needed to do. On his way out the door, he says to my nurse and the others at the nurses' station outside my door, "Ok, ladies. Y'all be sure to take good care of these folks in here. The daddy was my best man in my wedding and they are all like family to me." chuckle, chuckle, "You got it, Dr. John! You know they're in good hands!"

The door closes as my nurse asks me, "How have your contractions been? You've been having some pretty good ones. Are you feeling any pressure?" To which I reply, "I know. They've really been hurting, even with an epidural. And yes, I'm feeling pressure." By this time, she's checking my cervix and her eyes bug out.
"Um, ok folks, we are having a baby right now!" she says.
"Right now?!?" we all gasp. "Oh, yes. NOW." It's only 9am and the pitocin was never even started.

Suddenly, the room explodes with activity. Thankfully, Missy's office is just down the hall. She sweeps in and the nurses robe her up with all of her attractive delivery attire. It's about 9:07am at this point. We're all still in shock that we're already about to have a baby. What happened to the waiting-around-all-day-for-baby-to-make-her-appearance?!? Regis and Kathie Lee was on tv and I remember saying to Missy, "I can't believe I'm already having a baby. Host chat isn't even over!" To which she replied, "Yeah, do you mind if we mute that?" ha ha Still makes me laugh to this day.
Two pushes and my beautiful daughter was born at 9:13am. Just like that. (within the next half hour Dr. John stopped back by after finishing his rounds and was totally shocked to meet his newest patient)

Ten years later, she's still just as beautiful, but so much more than that. She's smart, thoughtful, responsible, extremely helpful. She's also bossy, sassy, and headstrong. I'm hoping those are traits that will enable her to stand up for her own convictions as she grows older. But those are my words. I thought it would be interesting to see what the rest of her family says about her:

oldest brother: you can always count on her to get the job done, no matter what
it is that we're supposed to do
younger brother: she looks beautiful with her braces and she's so fast I can hardly
ever catch up with her
little sister: she plays with me: teacher, house, dog (I'm scared to ask what that
particular game is about)
Dogos: she gets me up and changes my diaper and give me breakfast when Mom
is too lazy to get up yet (ok so she really didn't say that but I'm sure that's what
she's thinking)
Dad: she's my Peanut

I can't believe it's been ten years. Thank you, Peanut, for making me the proud mother of my first of 3 daughters. This post in orange, your favorite color, is just for you!