The Delivery

Well the special day was scheduled for October 21, 2009.  The night before, some girlfriends of mine took me out to eat at Ya Ya's which is a very fancy euro-bistro.  I had such a great time enjoying my last night before parenthood.

It was so nice having the delivery scheduled. I was able to have everything packed and ready to go the night before.  Here is my last picture being pregnant with Audrey!!

Ughh its hard to believe I was that big!!!

Jonathan and I went to bed very early that night.  We had to be at the hospital at 6:00am.  I don't think I slept at all that night.  I was way too excited to sleep!!  I finally got tired of laying in the bed at 4:30am and decided to get up and shower.  I wanted to make sure my hair was done and had make-up on ;).  I didn't want to look like the living-dead in pictures that could potentially haunt me the rest of my life.

We got to the hospital, checked in, and they had me hooked up to the pitocin by 6:30am.  The nurse that hooked me up to the fetal monitor said that I was already having contractions before they even started my IV.  I was shocked because I couldn't even feel them. After that, I was just waiting for my OB to come by reading magazines and talking to Jonathan

My family consisting of Mom, Dad, sister, grandparents, and my Aunt, showed up to the hospital around 7:30-8:00am.  While waiting on the doc, I really didn't feel a whole lot as far as contractions go.  Sometimes I could tell that I was having one, but other times I couldn't.

The doctor came by around 9ish to check on me.  He broke my water and told me that I should really start feeling contractions. He said that I could get the epidural whenever I wanted .  I felt like I lost 15lbs after he broke my water. I finally felt like I had room to breathe. Then the contractions really started to pick up, and I asked the nurse to go ahead and get my epidural.

A few hours later, around lunch, the nurse came in and said that Audrey's heart rate was dropping and that I needed oxygen and to lay on my side. This helped for a little while, but the doc came in and said that if it kept dropping like it was then we might have to do a c-section.  I told them that I was willing to do whatever.  Jonathan sent a text out to our family and friends to pray that things would continue to go smoothly. I was still only dilated to a 5 and the nurse said that it could still be a while which made us a little nervous because of the stress Audrey was starting to feel.

I hated the oxygen mask.  I felt like I was suffocating wearing it, which is completely impossible since I'm actually getting more oxygen. I kept giving Jonathan a hard time saying "I can't breathe in this mask!". He would just laugh at me, explain the science behind how it was better breathing than before, and continued to make fun of my claustrophobia.

I took a little nap and just tried to rest up before all the work really started. About an hour later I started to really start feeling the contractions. I told the nurse and she checked me and said "Wow you are a 9! I'll come back in 30 min and start setting up.  I had just jumped from a 5 to a 9 in less than an hour and it all started to really sink in. I really started to freak out then.  I was scared that I wouldn't know what to do, that the pain would be too much for me to handle, that I was about to become a mother, all of the crazy feelings came over me and I just panicked.  I asked Jonathan to update my family that we were about to start getting busy and to also bring my mom back. She really helped encourage me and told me I would be fine! You never get to old to need your mom sometimes!! We had a really great talk, and I needed her encouragement.

At  2:00pm the nurses came in and started getting everything together. The doctor showed up around 2:30pm.  I pushed for 22 minutes. Jonathan was really trying to be as sweet and helpful as possible, but he had no idea what he was doing or what I was needing. It seemed like he was yelling in my ear, "You're doing great, Magen. You're almost there!". I couldn't take it anymore and told him to "SHUT UP!" The nurses tried to hide their laughter while I told him to talk quieter and back off of all the encouragement.

And at 2:50pm Audrey Elizabeth Friedmann entered this world at 6lb 14oz and 19.75in.

I could not have asked for an easier delivery.  God really answered our prayers in giving us a beautiful little girl who is perfect in every way.  Jonathan and I are so blessed to have such great family and friends.

The rest of our visit was comfortable. We had other visitors from Jonathan's work and our church. However, there were about 4 times when there was a deafening grinding noise ringing through our room. It sounded like someone was using a jack-hammer in the room above us. I'm sure there's never a good time to do that kind of work in a hospital, but I'm glad it didn't last too long.

Below are some more of my favorite pictures of our stay and us going home.