Well...let's start off with Friday, 10 July. Nichole went in for her check up. They sent her back home. She was dialated to a "1" and about 37 weeks...not yet. 6pm, some serious doozies start hitting, wow that's painful! So I wake up around 12am with Nichole telling me the nurses said she should come in and get checked out to be safe. We had been timing the contractions througout the evening and they were anywhere from 1:30 minutes apart to 3:30 minutes. Thankfully Amy came over to watch the girls and we were off to Wilford Hall. When we arrive, Nichole is in pretty good pain at this point and they bring us back to the triage room. They hook her up to the machines to start monitoring the baby and the contractions and send for the Doctor. Well the Doctor arrives, it's now around 1am and he checks. Hey there, Nichole is now a "5" and here comes the real kicker...the baby is feet first breech! The Doctor doesn't even miss a beat, he simply states, "Well the baby is breech and so we are going to do a C-section and so we will go over some paperwork and start the process"
Within 30 minutes they had Nichole in the OR getting here spinal anesthetic and they they let me in. It was all very quick and to put it mildly, Nichole was terribly frightened by the whole process. However, the doctors and nurses were all very understanding and patient and reassured us at every step. We didn't really see anything (or feel anything for Nic) but as soon as it was started it seemed it was already over and out came this beautiful little girl. It never ceases to amaze me how they can seem so wonderful and angelic even though they are covered in placental fluid and goop! Unless you are a parent you won't understand the feeling you get when your child is brought into the world, but it is an overwhelming feeling of love and joy that makes your heart burst and your eyes fill with tears of gratitude as you experience the miracle of life.
>Avery Lynn Hipple, was born at 3:20 am, 11 July 2009, at Wilford Hall Medical Center, in San Antonio, TX. Nichole had to stay behind and get all put back together and I went up with Avery to get her bath and feed her. It was weird not having Nichole with us but it was also very special to sit there with our newest daughter and hold her in my arms. Such a precious gift. We couldn't be more excited to have her in our lives. I will let Nichole do the next blog and talk about her experience in the Hospital (and how bad the food was). Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
