38 Weeks -- Hospital Time

38 Weeks

ON THE WAY TO THE HOSPITAL!!

38 Weeks and 2 days

(we kept saying we needed to get our 38 week picture in and then it was too late -- uh oh )

Here we are in the hospital parking lot.  Our last picture as just the two of us, from now on it will be the three of us :)

So Tuesday, July 10th Kurt woke up and started getting around for work.  After he went downstairs I decided to go to the bathroom really quick before I went back to bed for a few minutes.  Well when I went to the bathroom I was pretty sure my water broke but I was not sure, so I attempted to go back to bed.  About ten minutes later I knew I was not going to sleep so I got up to get some breakfast, and then my water definitely broke.  I called Kurt to let him know as he was supposed to head down to Sunbury for the day.  But I also told him I was not sure exactly what was going on but I would call the doctor.  Well I called and they said come right in, so I had to cancel my appointment and I told Kurt I would meet him at the hospital.  (I took my good old time, showered, packed all of our bags in the car and then headed to the hospital).  We got there about 8 (water broke about 6:30am) and they had us change and hang tight.  Well we don't hang tight very well so we began pacing the halls.  We walked and walked and walked and walked.  We would only come back to the room when the nurse needed to hook us up to monitors and machines, then back to walking.  The walking was working, but we were going on baby time, and she was not ready to come until Grandma and Grandpa Shader could arrive (wish she could have told us that).  About 4 contractions started getting quite painful, but we just kept on walking.  Then they started getting worse and worse and I was not getting up at all.  We decided to get some phetanol to ease the pain.  Well that did nothing but make them farther apart, it did not help make it any less painful.  It was too much, too much for me to bear and too much for Kurt to watch me go through.  So after an hour of so of just phetanol we decided to get an epidural.  I was scared to death of getting one, but we did.  Well it helped, did not take the pain away but it helped.  The problem was that meant I had to lay still and not move.  It was tough, but at about midnight it was time to push.  We started pushing and at 1:01am baby Harper Ella Stabler was born.  A healthy 7lbs 5 oz and 20 1/4 inches long.  When they placed her on my stomach all I could think of was she was perfect.  Perfect little lips, perfect little nose, just perfect.  We were in love and now a family of three :)

Happy Birthday Harper!