the curse of the nurse.....

It was Sunday night and I was miserable. We were at my in-laws for dinner and everybody was commenting on how I looked so ready to have my baby. I was. The whole time I was pregnant with Chels my back ached. Bad. So bad, I'd cry about it. I saw a chiropractor twice a week but it wasn't helping and I was just plain miserable.
So on this Sunday night (March 17th, 2002), I phoned my mom when we got home and cried to her about being tired. I was tired of being in pain all the time, tired of hauling around a tubby twelve month old while so tubby myself, tired of my back hurting, tired of being tired. I remember my mom mostly just listened to me complain, she told me Heavenly Father knew my limits and that He loved me. And that she loved me and would talk to me in the morning..... reminded me I only had 10 days to go until my due date.
At 2 a.m. I woke up with stomach cramps and was in and out of the bathroom continually for the next hour. By 3 a.m. the stomach cramps started to feel a bit more like labour cramps. I woke Dan up, told him I thought I might be in labour but wasn't sure. He got up and got in the shower. After that, we packed my bag, then sat at our dining room table and wrote out a list of people we wanted to phone when the baby was born. By 5 a.m. the contractions had progressed enough that I though we should probably call my mom to come and watch Ty. She had to drive an hour to get to our house and by the time she got there I was starting to get quite uncomfortable. We chatted for about half an hour before we left for the hospital.
When we got to the hospital my doctor was just finishing up his rounds and then leaving for scout camp. I was disappointed but just happy to be in labour. I felt like I had been pregnant forever. Three months in between two pregnancies just isn't enough.
I got all settled into the delivery room and the doctor came to see how things were going. He was very positive and told me I'd probably have the baby around dinner time. We were so excited.
I decided to get in the shower and try to relax for a while. I remember the nurse coming in and asking me if I was feeling any pressure. I wasn't sure because I was sitting on an exercise ball. She asked me to stand up and as soon as I did I felt the "pressure" she was asking about. She got me back into bed and I was just about ready to start pushing. Things were moving along very quickly. It was so surprising because I wasn't feeling a whole lot of pain. I felt the contractions in my belly and after having back labour with Ty, the belly pain was totally bearable.
Chelsey was born at 11:18 a.m. (so much for "dinnertime"). She was just a tiny little peanut, a round, bald little head, and a squished nose.
Dan says when the doctor told me it was a girl and I replied "a girl?!" that it was the loudest I had been all day. I was totally surprised that I had a girl and a bit worried about what to do with a girl (go figure).
I was ready to go home right after I had her. The nurse told me I had to stay 24 hours so we did, just barely. It took Dan and I quite a while to name her. We had picked the name Macy before she was born but she just didn't suit it. The nurse brought us a name book and we read through every single girls name. Really, every single one. Well, we skipped the A's because Dan said "A" names were no good. Ha ha, I still remember the look on his face just after he said this, remembering that my name starts with an "A". Poor guy.
Chelsey was the name that suited her. There was not one other name that did. I never dreamed I'd name a daughter Chelsey but now I absolutely love it.

We had parent teacher interviews last night. Chelsey soars above grade average in most subjects. She is such a smart kid and loves to learn. She is very dramatic and social. She loves to be outside riding her bike, running, skipping, anything sporty. She hates having her hair done and would never brush it if it were up to her. She still lets me pick out her clothes. She loves to stay up late and sleep in. She chews her nails like her Dad and cries easily like me. She loves her blanket that she has had since she was born, sleeps with it, watches T.V. with it, eats breakfast with it and still wants it when she is hurt. She loves to be silly and run around with her friends.

Chelsey is very predictable and easily persuaded. I hope she stays this way because I am absolutely terrified to be a mother to teenagers... and it is coming all too quickly. Seven years gone by in the blink of an eye.

... and as for the curse of the nurse... when I had Ty a nurse said this " wow, you did so good for your first time. You'll just have to come back next year!". And at the time, I laughed and I'm pretty sure I said something like "yeah, right. I'm never doing that again."

And there I was almost exactly a year later.