Re-Pete. the 11th anniversary edition

11 years and 3 days ago was a very scary day for us. After several miscarriages and a failed round of fertility drugs we have managed to get and stay pregnant. I had gone to work and then a regularly scheduled checkup. The midwife was concerned, but couldn't put her finger on it. So she asked the sonogram tech to take a look. Sure enough, something was wrong. The doc took a look and said "Don't worry, it could be nothing"

Fast forward 3 days and we are the Big Hospital in Atlanta. It's late afternoon and I'm going through an internal sonogram (which aren't much fun at all), the Doc has left the room to go compare the video of the sonogram from a few days previous to that day's. And then my water breaks. Not a gush, but a leak. Doc comes back and starts explaining the risks of an amniocentesis and how we need to know if her lungs are developed enough to be born. We tell him we think that's not an issue. He checks and sure enough, my water broke. But to make it just that much scarier, there's meconium in the fluid (that's medibabble for poo).

He says "It looks like you're having a baby".

And into a fishbowl of a room I go.

Along with Petocin at the maximum dose to start my labor. 8 hours later and nothing much is happening. We're scared she's gonna die, I'm sick of being stared at, and I'm in pain but won't take anything for fear of hurting her. A nurse comes in about 11:30 at night and says, accompanied by singing Angels, "We can give you a pain medicine that won't hurt the baby" and next thing I know I'm waking up and I'm telling my husband "I want a Epidural NOW and WHY are you still here. Go now!!!!"
Ms Angel Nurse comes back in for a peek and says "Don't push, I'll be right back" I had dilated form a 2 to a 10 in less than 30 minutes.

At some point I had asked my husband what the door in the ceiling was for and he replied "That's were the stork comes in" Heh, that still makes me laugh.

A lot starts happening, mirrors (gah!) incubators, trays with lots of metal things and even the machine that goes PING! were wheeled in and there sat a doctor. Don't remember his name. I do remember being mad at him for just sitting there while all the nurses were busy. And I pushed and pushed and pushed. Maybe 4 times.

And out she came. So tiny. I learned later that 5.5 pounds was pretty good for 6 weeks preemie. Her cry was the best sound I ever heard. They pumped out about 3 ounces of fluid from her stomach, let us kiss her, and then shipped her off.

So now Pete is 11, a Palindrome in both her age and her real name. A straight A student, playing the clarinet in her school band, getting tall (thanks in no small part to some very long legs), making us proud with her words and deeds. She still likes to sit on her head and watch television and spends a lot of time rolling around on the floor. She is a terrific Big Sister to Re-Pete, I love watching them snuggle up and play together.

Happy Birthday, my Darling!