That being said, I didn't post much during pregnancy. The 1st trimester was pretty rough. I was really tired and felt nauseous for most of the time. Then around 23 weeks my doctor sent me to a perinatologist because my belly was measuring too large. They said the amniotic fluid was measuring just on the high end of normal. I think the normal range is right around 24 insert unit of measure here, (never really paid attention to that) and I was measuring around 29. They diagnosed me with mild polyhrdramnios. This could mean a few things. First concern was that there could be something anatomically wrong with the baby. Second was that I could go into preterm labor. So once a month I went to see the specialist and every time I measured pretty much the same. And let me tell you that I my belly continued to grow...and grow. I was asked almost on a daily basis if I was having twins or would be told, "oh you're not going to make it to your due date". **Note to all the readers out there that may not already know this...please don't ever ask a woman if she is having multiple babies!!! I had people question me when I would tell them no, "really, are you sure"! Yep, I'm pretty sure!!!!** My regular ob told me that her goal was to get me to 35 weeks because most babies born at 35 weeks do not go to the NICU, (neonatal intensive care unit) and can go home with their parents. That was a little scary. Since I was past my due date with Hailey and had to be induced I just knew that I was going to be counting the days thinking it could be any time for months and end up going full term. I didn't go full term but pretty close. At my 38 week appointment my doctor decided to go ahead and induce me at 39 weeks because of other concerns should my water break on its own. Since I was induced with Hailey, I was all about it. I'm tellin' you, it's the way to go. I didn't have to have all the labor pains waiting for them to become regular or any of that stuff.
September 9, 2010 was when I was scheduled to be induced. My mom came down on Wednesday, the day before, so she could stay with Hailey as we had to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM. Well, she lost a crown the night before she left so we called a family friend that's a dentist in San Marcos and they squeezed her in, (this is an important part of the story - will tell in next post). Thursday morning Stephen and I got up and headed to the hospital. We got there on time and they ushered us to our room. I got into my oh so lovely hospital gown and waited. A nurse came in and told me that a student would be administering my IV. Great, I thought. She wasn't too bad but the instructor in my ear giving her step by step guidelines was a little unnerving. My doctor showed up around 8ish and decided to go ahead a break my water. This was the main reason I was induced so it was a little scary but thankfully everything went just as planned. My doctor wanted to see if this would get labor going before giving me Pitocin. It didn't so they gave me Pitocin about an hour later. This kicked things into gear and shortly thereafter I was asking for the epidural as my tolerance for pain is pretty much nil. Shortly after 3:00 PM it was time to push. Can I just tell you how easy this was!! The epidural was still pretty strong so they had to tell me every now and then that it was time to push. In between pushes, we were chit-chatting just waiting for another contradiction. It was great! At 3:41 PM baby girl Harwell was born weighting 7lbs 5ozs, 20 inches long.
This was the day of pregnancy, right before we left for the hospital.
Stephen's parents and us in the labor and delivery room.
One of the first things the nurses and doctor said was, "look at those lips"!!!
Proud papa!
Family of 4
Grandmom,(my mom) holding her 5th grandbaby.
Hailey checking out her baby sister.
Philisa and Kori meeting baby girl.
This was from her hearing test. Notice the date of the test was 9/10...her birthday was 9/9. Also notice that it says "Baby Girl Harwell" that's because we still hadn't picked her name! It was down to three names: Hannah Jane, Peyton Riley or Avery Michelle. Stephen finally just decided that it was going to be Hannah Jane and I'm thankful he did cause who knows how long this poor child would have been known as baby girl Harwell. People would ask us if we had a name yet and we would say, "not yet". Everyone thought we were just holding out...no we really hadn't decided.
We had to stay in the hospital an extra day because she had a little bit of jaundice. We had to keep her on these lights all the time. She was our little glow worm.
Still a little yellow here.
The day we left the hospital.
