At 36 weeks, Andrea woke me up at about 7:00am and told me that she was pretty sure her water had broke. So, we loaded up the car and were on the road within 20 minutes. We had to drive from Logan to Murray (about a 90 minute drive) By the time we hit Ogden, the contractions were getting pretty painful but were still about 4 minutes apart. I couldn't speed much due to morning traffic so I stayed in the left lane and went as fast as I could (only about 3 mph over). Then I feel a bang bang bang and see a ton of tread fly up in the air behind us. OH CRAP! There was no way to get to the left side of the road due to traffic, so I had to pull up tight against a cement barrier on the left side. I got out to assess the damage and check out her donut tire. All she had was a crappy little jack. I had only changed a tire once on my own and I know that due to the added stress of the situation there was no way I could do it as fast as we needed it done. We quickly called the SLC dispatcher and asked for assistance. She said she'd just send a UDOT truck to help with the tire and an officer to escort us to the hospital. GREAT! We were going to be fine!
That's not exactly what happened though.....within 4 minutes, we saw the fire chief truck pull up...then the UDOT truck... then an ambulance... then a fire truck... and then 6 state troopers. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? They shut down all 4 lanes of the freeway (in morning traffic keep in mind) and escorted us to the right side of the road. At this point I am half way between peeing my pants, laughing so hard I pee my pants, and bawling my eyes out. Andrea is saying over and over "I'm not riding in that ambulance!" Of course they make her. They strapped her onto a stretcher with a blanket and straps and the whole shebang. All the traffic had slowed to watch the spectacle of a show we were putting on. They had the tire fixed in about 60 seconds and we were on our way once again. I followed the ambulance at an under the speed limit speed of 60 mph all the way to the hospital!
We made it!
Once we got into the delivery room we quickly learned that Andrea was at a 5 and 100%. GOOD JOB! So she asked for the epidural straight away. Too bad the anesthesiologist was busy at a c-section and we had to wait. They gave her a little demerol to help with the pain while we waited. When we first arrived, the contractions seemed to still be somewhat bearable (in a way that only someone who has actually already gone through it could describe. It would be much more like death if a man was describing "bearable") But things quickly turned around. With just a couple contractions Andrea knew that something had definately changed. And sure enough...Avaree was ready to come. No epidural and all! So, after being at the hospital only about and hour and 15 minutes and Andrea's midwife sprinting through the hospital to make it in time, Little Avaree was born at 11:38am. She only pushed through about 3 contractions. This woman is amazing! This was my first time on the other side of the bed and I was completely amazed. Andrea was incredible. I was so proud of her!
The "PLAN" was to do her makeup and hair after the epidural was in and unfortunately the events of the day didn't allow for that, so we had to wait till Andrea was wheeled to recovery. She had the rest of the day ahead of her and she deserved to feel pretty for it, (even though she already looked pretty amazing) So the following picture was taken about 1 1/2 hours after birth. She's gorgeous!
I left for the night because our Mom had arrived and slept at the hospital with Andrea. When I came back in the morning, Avaree looked completely different. Her newborn swelling had gone down and she was looking just like her mom as a newborn. She's so adorable and of course so so tiny!
And after a sleepless night, her momma looked pretty amazing too! Avaree had to be on the bili lights for about an entire week, but is now doing fantastic and looking at Andrea, you'd never guess that she had given birth two weeks ago. She's such a great mom. CONGRATULATIONS!NOW: TELL ME IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO COULD BEAT HER STORY! HA HA!
She was so good to pose for me to take her picture.
You can tell this is the first week of school from her glowing tan. Lucky girl!
I didn't cry or come home depressed (after all, kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours long here) but it is a little surreal to know that this is the beginning of forever...she'll always be in school from here on out. It's kind of weird. Plus...it makes me feel so so old.