I'm going to miss this...

Once again I lay here basking in the glory of motherhood while my sweet bebes is laying on my chest snuggled donw for the night sleeping. I sometimes think about the hassle of being confined to the couch while she sleeps because at times she refuses to sleep in her bassinet. But then I once again think about her growing up and how fast these baby days go, and I realize that I will truly miss these days. I try and soak in every day and every smile Aspen gives us because I don't want to miss a thing. In thinking about all of this I realized I have not written down Aspen's birth story, and I know that I will want to remember as many details as possible. So here it goes.

Tuesday September 29th-
Woke up feeling the same as always and ready for Aspen to make her appearance. I was tired of being pregnant. Did the normal morning routine and went to the mall to have our warranty renewed on our wedding rings. Then Randy and I met up with Audra and Mike and had some lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. Randy's theory was that maybe the spice would kick Aspen into gear. After the lunch I went to my 1:30pm mi-wife appointment that was my 40 week appt(it was actually when I was 39 weeks and 5 days). During the appointment Midwive Katie did an internal and I was about 1cm dialated, and she did not tell me whether I was effaced at all. She warned me that the internal would possibly cause some cramping and spotting.
After the appointment I went home to wait out the afternoon until Randy got home and then the plan was to watch biggest loser and spend some time together. Around 5:30ish I started to get what I thought were some pretty intense cramps that were causing me to stop in my tracks. But not too painful that I could not talk and breath through them. I thought that they were just cramps from the internal, made some tea, snuggled up on the couch and watched some TV while still waiting for Randy to get home from work. Finally around 7pm I started to realize that the cramps were not letting up and they were pretty consistent. I got on to contraction master and started to try and timing the cramps to see if there was a pattern. They were ranging between 4 and 5 minutes apart and roughly a minute long. I called the mid-wives to let them know and they said to come in and get checked whenever I felt like it. Around 7:30 Randy got home and we watched the biggest loser while I continued to time the what I now realized were full blown contractions. I tried everything from walking around, using the exercise ball to bounce and sit on, and laying on the floor. Around 9 when biggest loser ended we decided to just head in and get checked out to ease our minds. We were convinced that I was probably in false labor. We got to the hospital about 9:30 and got checked out. I was 5cm dialated and the contractions were 3 to 4 minutes apart. They told me that I was in fact in real labor and needed to be checked into a regular labor room. Got situated into the labor room by 10:45 and started to walk the halls to try and prolong the time before I got my epidural. My dad, Amber, Randy's parents, and Kirsten and Becky all came to the hospital to see us. Becky brought me ice cream :)

Wednesday September 30, 2009
Around 1am I decided to get into the tub to see if the water would help with some of the pain. I lasted in the bath for about 45minutes when I decided that I was ready for the epidural and wanted to try and get some sleep before I would have to push. Before the epidural they checked me and I was at 7cm dialated. The epidural was administered at 2:45am and had kicked in by 3am. Kirsten, Becky, my dad, and Amber decided to go home and come back later in the day. By 3:10 Randy and I were sleeping in our room while Randy's parents were sleeping in the waiting room. At 5 am they came in to check my progress again and I was 10cm so we woke Randy up and got ready to push. Pushed for about 10 minutes when they put me on oxygen to help with Aspen's heartrate and my oxygen levels as well. Pushed for another 18 minutes and Aspen had entered our world. She was crying and pooping as they put her on my chest and I cried tears of joy and awe as I looked at her face. She was beautiful and perfect. Aspen was 7lbs 10oz and 18 and 3/4 inches long.

I had a relativeley short and easy labor when it comes to first time moms and I thank God everyday for how short and relatively it was. I still can't believe that I created the beautiful little girl that lays on me everyday.