Six Years Ago...

On this exact day I was about to become a mother for the first time! The Saturday before I had Kori I went with my family to Weston, Missouri to visit the little shops and have lunch in an attempt to walk this child out! Didn't happen! I was HUGE! I remember standing in the various shops and the owners/employees asking me when I was due. My standard response was "four days ago". That statement was followed up with the look of "oh please don't have that kid in my shop". No such luck! I remember making chili that night and I had some contractions. I thought for sure that was it, she was coming! Nope. The next day was Sunday and I felt GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! I cleaned the house, washed bedding/curtains, you name it, I cleaned/scrubbed/washed it all. Jason and I went to dinner at Stone Canyon Pizza. How was I to know that my last meal would be a salad, garlic bread and spaghetti and meatballs.

At 4:50 a.m. I awoke with the urge to go pee. Not a stretch. Six days overdue and I was huge and peeing every 20-30 minutes most of the time. Well I finished got up and felt leaky. I figured she had moved and I wasn't done yet. Well I "peed" some more. Got up again, same thing. This repeated a couple more times and I was getting quite annoyed as I was anxious to get back to bed. Well I wiped again (sorry this is probably way to much info!) and saw a little tinge of pink on the paper. It hit me like a ton of bricks...OH CRAP I THINK MY WATER IS LEAKING/BREAKING!!!! The night before I had discharge which I now know was my mucous plug coming out.

I am now in a total panic. NOW she's coming? Oh crap! I'm not ready yet. Give me a couple more days, weeks, months! Anything just not now! I go and wake Jason. "Uh honey, I think my water is leaking or breaking." His reply...this is CLASSIC Jason. "Well wake me up again when your sure". I in no uncertain terms assured him I was sure and I better start seeing some eyelids making the motions to look like they were opening. I called my dad and told him to wake my mom so she could get unstiff and ready to head to the hospital. I called my doctor and left a message with the answering service. I tested positive for STREP B and it was reiterated to me a million times to make sure I notified them ASAP when I was going into labor.

I remember the contractions starting to get pretty regular about 5:30 or so. Jason and I sat on the couch in the living room waiting for the doctor to call back. The contractions were about 10 minutes apart. About 6am they were about 6 minutes apart and we decided to start getting ready to head for the hospital. Oh man, I was nervous, excited, anxious, petrified, nauseous (from the nerves), scared, you name it I was one ball of emotions. Jason had that goofy nervous look on his face he gets sometimes.

Off we went to the hospital! We were checked in and I got a wheelchair ride up to the Maternity floor, even though I assured her I could walk. No such luck. I was checked by the nurse just before 7am and lo and behold my water broke as she checked me. Her words were (I'll never forget them) "Well you aren't going anywhere now, your water just broke. Your going to have a baby sometime today!" Huh? Was she talking to me? I looked around, nope no one else in here in labor. Just Jason and I. I was quite sure he wasn't having a baby so she must have been talking to me. Oh yikes! A baby? Today? Me? A MOTHER? What have I done?

I was only dilated to a 1 so there would be lots of waiting! I got some pitosin to "help things along". It sure did! The contractions were kicking my butt by now! Around noon or so I was a dilated to a 5 and I asked for my epidural. Well apparently the doctor doing them was swamped! There were 10 or 12 deliveries that day, not counting Kori's. He finally made it in when I was dilated to a 7 or so. They gave me some IV pain meds earlier to "take the edge off". Didn't do a thing for the contractions, just made my head fuzzy. I passed on anymore of those.

At about 3pm they started herding everyone out so that we could prepare to start pushing. My doctor came in and checked me and I was a 9! Woo hoo! Finally! He said he was going back to the office. Huh? The nurse said "but she's a 9". He instructed her to page him when I was getting ready to start pushing. It was weird, but whatever, I had other things to worry about.

Shortly after I was a 10 and the paging of the doctor began...to no avail. I remember Jason and my mom anxiously watching the door waiting for the doctor to come through it. Didn't happen. Finally the nurse goes and assembles some other nurses and she said we were ready. I started pushing about 3:45. I pushed and pushed and pushed. As Kori's head was finally coming out they told me to stop pushing. They were waiting to see if the doctor was going to show up. It was finally decided I couldn't/wouldn't wait any longer. She was coming out, whether they liked it or not. At 5:00 p.m. on the nose, Miss Kori Paige Rusley was born into this world, making it, in my opinion, a much greater place! She weighed 8lbs. 10 oz. and was 22 inches long! She had BIG blue eyes and pretty downy reddish hair. Oh she was so alert and beautiful!!!!!!! She had a large bruise on her head from being held up before coming out, but other than that she was perfect!!!! I didn't get to hold her for a few minutes because the nurses wanted to check her out and make sure all was well. Lo and behold the doctor comes in now. He was hateful and rude to the nurses. He finished up and told me he'd check on me tomorrow. Whatever, I had better things to do anyway!

I FINALLY got my beautiful, perfect, wonderful daughter and Jason and I had a few minutes to enjoy her, alone, before sharing her with the rest of the family! She came from ME? So perfect and beautiful? It couldn't be, but it was!!!! I cried...a lot! My mom kept asking if I was hurting but I kept reassuring her that I was just overwhelmed with happiness and love! It had been over two long years and I was finally a MOTHER!!!!! The world was perfect! Well except for the fact that "down there" hurt like heck, but other than that, no complaints!

Kori greeted my nephew Cody first. She promptly stuck her tongue out at him. It was too cute! Everyone held and cuddled her and finally after what seemed like ages I got her back.

It's hard to believe that almost six years to the day have passed. It was cold on the day she was born, but sunny. It will be cold and sunny tomorrow. I will take cupcakes and little bottles of water in to school tomorrow as my "baby" celebrates her 6th birthday. Oh how did it happen? The time went by so fast!

Today I watched her skate around Winwood skating rink with her friends from school. She went to her first school classmate birthday party. She looked so big, and mature, and grown. Oh it was so bittersweet. I've been in a funk this month anyway, this didn't help a bit. We had pizza tonight, just like we did six years ago before she was born. Now I have three other beauties to share her with. Life is good, but bittersweet. Where does the time go? How is it even possible that six years has passed!

She is a loving, giving, sweet, feisty, beautiful, comical, sensitive, sassy, shy (at times) ball of red-headed energy. And she's mine! All mine! Well I share her with people that love her a lot, not as much as I do, but a lot nonetheless. **Sigh** I can remember the events of the days leading up to her birth like they were yesterday. I remember where I went, what I cooked, what I ate, what I wore, but yet six years have passed. **SIGH** **SIGH** **SIGH**