Having a baby

My due date was December 11th and we could hardly wait. Now I will be the first one to admit that I took on too much towards the end. However, I've always had a hard time saying no especially with volunteering.

At the end of October was the base fall festival and I was co-chair for our group. We were going to make and sell egg rolls. So first was an all day shopping trip for ingredients. Next was 3 long days of putting the egg rolls together. I tried to do most of it sitting down but that wasn't always possible. Finally we had 3 days to sell them all. Because I was also the treasurer for our group it was decided that I had to be there all 3 days, all day long to handle the money. I made it through OK and we did make lots of money but boy was I tired.

Next came our Fall Joint Officers Coffee on November 16th. I was again co-chair for the event. It was going to be a PX fashion show followed by dessert and coffee. Lots of prep went into it but for the actual event but all I was "suppose" to do that night was to collect money at the door and hand out name tags. Of course that's not all I ended up doing. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I spent the night running around putting out fires and making sure everyone was happy. In the end, the evening was a success but I was exhausted.

Walking up the stairs at home I thought I started leaking water but being a first time mom I wasn't sure. So we called Labor & Delivery and they told us to watch it for an hour. We waited the hour worrying because it was too early to have the baby. At the end of the hour we went to the hospital to get checked out. I was having contractions but I wasn't leaking fluid. So they sent us home with strict orders for me to rest. By now it was 2am and John and I were so tired we couldn't see straight. As we got into bed, gave each other a kiss and rolled over, it happened. POP! and then a rush of fluid. There was no question this time my water definitely had broken. So we got up, grabbed the bags and back to the hospital we went.

We got there, got checked in and we were definitely having a baby soon. They tried for a few hours to let it progress on it's own but it wasn't going anywhere. So they started me on Pictocin (nasty stuff) to get things moving. It got things moving fast and furious and it went on for 14 hours. They didn't do epidurals at the military hospital so all I got was some pain medicine...thanks. Since my water had broken I wasn't allowed out of the bed but I finally had to stand up. As I swung my legs over the bed the baby dropped down big time! I told the nurse he was coming out but she said not yet. I laid back, they checked again and rushed me to the delivery room. I was right! Three pushes and out came John Robert, at 5:48pm, November 17th at 6lbs 4oz and 21" long and perfect.

It was truly love at first sight for us and he is still the apple of our eyes.