In the beginning...

Dear Amelia,

A year ago, you weren't even a glimmer in our imagination. By then I had decided that I wanted another little one, or two, but no set plans were in place. It wasn't until the beginning of October 2008, that we knew about you!! And boy, were we surprised! We arranged a special night out at the Melting Pot for cheese and chocolate fondue to celebrate your anticipated arrival and her becoming a big sister! We were so excited to see your little heart beat on the ultrasound, and Ayshia especially, was thrilled to go to the doctors to see if she was going to be blessed with a baby brother or sister (she really wanted a sister!). The first ultrasound, I brought in pictures to my work and the ladies there were so excited that you were coming, one went shopping right away...

I won't say you were easy on me though, those first nine months of your existence. Between the aches and pains and naseua and heartburn, not to mention the sleepless nights, extra 50 pounds (!) and continuous false labor contractions, you were making your presence known, little lady!

Then on Monday, June 8th, I was having terrible contractions again. I was up most of the night with them, and they continued to be intense through your sister soccer practice all that morning. I remember having to walk part way back to the car with her because we forgot something and just being in the most terrible pain-I was almost brought to tears! And by then, I was really looking forward to coming into this world and so excited to meet you and be able to have you join me in watching your sisters soccer!

By then I had started looking into 'tricks' to help start labor, and one of the more harmless ones was to eat pineapple. So that night I ate a whole can of crushed pineapple. I didn't really believe in any of those things, but it was yummy so I tried it. We went to bed, and again, I was up most of the night with strong painful contractions, and your dad was up with me timing them. They kept coming, but weren't consistent so we kept waiting.

Later that morning, I thought my water might have broken (it hadn't) and I had an appointment that Wednesday, your due date, that I need to reschedule so I called the doctors to see if they could get me in that day, just to make sure you were doing ok.

They scheduled me for 11:40, so until then I laid down to time the contractions and got a hold of Yaya to watch Ayshia. The three of us sat in the waiting room a while, still having contractions and talking about how excited we were that you were coming soon (when? we didn't know, but soon).

The doctor called me back and checked me out and told me I was 3-4 centimeters dialated, 75%effaced, with the bag of waters 'bulging', and to head to the hospital. I asked her if I had time to stop at home to get my things and her response was "Do you have lip gloss? That's all you need. Just go." So we did. Ayshia had her Hot Cheetos and Cherry Coke that she was so sweet to offer me (I would have taken her up on her offer had I known how terribly hungry I'd be in a little bit!) She also gave me what ended up being a life saving tool during your birth-a rock. But not just any rock. A rock that she found on a walk with Sam that was smooth on one side, rougher on the other, that fit into my palm just perfectly to be squeezed and stroked almost to sand during my contractions with you. I held onto that rock from the time she handed it to me in the car, all through walking up and down the corridors of the hospital, through the incredibly painful contractions, until I had to hold my legs to start pushing. That rock was a life saver. We kept that rock.

The ride to the hospital was surprisingly very peaceful. Not at all like what you see on the movies. I was really excited to finally meet you and relieved that it was the real thing and not another false alarm.

We got to the hospital and checked in about 1:30ish. Ayshia had gymnastics that night, so she and Yaya left to go there and Dad, Aunt Nicolette, Poppy and Nana stayed at the hospital with me. We walked up and down the halls, encouraging you to make your grand entrance. Then the hunger hit me. There was a pack of big muffins in a refreshment station sitting out in the hallway and boy did I want a muffin! Nicolette had to hear it the most-that I really wanted one of those muffins, but they wouldn't let me eat anything. I was regretting not taking the Hot Cheeto that was offered to me.

I won't go into the details, but let me tell you, little lady, did you cause your mom some pain! I ended up not being able to sleep later because of the flashbacks of the intensity of it all! But through it all, you arrived at 5:20 p.m. They laid you on my stomach and boy were you cute! I was worried because you were still kind of purple, but they reassured me you were healthy. For a while you just looked around, taking in all of the new sights to see, and letting us look at you. You didn't cry too much right away. You just kind of hung out. You are so beautiful and we are so blessed to have you in our lives. We all just fell in love with you right away!

We stayed in the hospital that Tuesday through Thursday and there were many people who wanted to meet you! Aunt Sam came within minutes of you being born, and Ayshia and Yaya came back after gymnastics to meet you. The next day Carol came back to see you, and so did Aunt Nicolette and our friends Kaley and Megan with Matthew, Mitchell and Adison. Your Uncles Jeremiah and Tyler came later that night. On Thursday, your Aunts Nicolette, Hannah and Sam, and Yaya all came to see you off in your first car ride. You and I were wheeled out in a wheelchair and as soon as you 'wheeled' outside, there was a huge crash of thunder and it was raining heavily. Quite the welcome to the world!

We made it home without event, besides it taking seemingly forever in the bad traffic from the rain and me on such little sleep. We walked in the door and it already felt like you were just part of us. You have been a wonderful addition to our family and we can't imagine how we lived without you! We love you Amelia!

Love,

Mom