The one you have all been waiting for

I know this is over a month late but I am writing this so that I will remember and you are welcome to read if you want. Here is the story of Alena Ruth Pederson's first day.

I never admitted this to anyone out loud at least, but I have always felt like I had certain "motherly intuition" with this pregnancy. For example, I always knew in my heart that this baby was a girl even before the ultrasound confirmed it. I knew that her name would be Alena even before I pitched it to Mark (of course it sure helped out that he liked it too). However, even though I always desperately hoped, I never expected this baby to come early.

Why was I so anxious? I think every 9 month pregnant women is anxious to get the show on the road, but I was particularly worried that I would have another baby that was a week late and huge! This is not such a big deal I know - although it was a struggle, Isaac came out perfect and that is what matters most. However, I came a little too close to having a C-Section with Isaac and was really scared for delivering #2. After a lot of research and thought I had made the bold (for me) decision that I wanted to deliver this baby without the use of an epidural. I switched my doctor and began seeing a midwife that was one of the best decisions I could have made in this process.

I told everyone that I was going to have a Thanksgiving baby. In fact, it was probably a bit rude but I told my extended family that I hope that I wouldn't see any of them at Thanksgiving dinner because I would be in the hospital. The week of Thanksgiving was a bit of a roller coaster. Mark was in the middle of midterm tests and finishing up projects for school and I was trying to get as much dental work done, including a root canal, before the baby came. Wednesday night, Mark came home from work and we stayed up late like we always do catching up on the day. I remember we started discussing politics and I started to lose interest because I started to have cramps and no longer had anything coherent to say. We went to bed. Mark passed out, I couldn't sleep. I began to time and track contractions. They weren't very consistent but annoying enough to keep me awake all night long. I lasted until about 7 or 8 am then woke up Mark and said, "I think I am in labor."

However, once I got up and moved around the contractions stopped. False alarm. After all, it's a week early. We decided to go ahead and go to the Thanksgiving family dinners (yes, there were 2) which provided a great distraction for me and also would be great for Isaac to have family around him just in case we had to go. On the drive up to Pleasant View Mark and I came up with a code word "turkey coma or tryptophan" to indicate the beginning of a contraction but not make it obvious to the rest of the family who would most certainly over react. I did give my sister Melody a heads up because we had invited her to come to the hospital with us.

My contractions began to get stronger and more consistent as the evening progressed but slowed down and nearly stopped once we got home around 8pm. By this point I was pretty tired and annoyed at what I thought was a terrible trick. Even though the contractions weren't consistently 5 min. a part, by 11 pm we decided to go ahead and go to the hospital. At most, they would tell me to go home but at least I would know. We drug our sweet neighbor Linnley Sweeney out of bed to come stay with Isaac and got to the hospital around midnight.

The rest of the story is pretty quick. They checked me when I got there and I was already dilated to a 5. We called Melody and told her that she better come now. They monitored the baby's heart rate for 20 minutes then I asked to get in the jetted tub. I was in the tub for about 30- 40 minutes. Melody arrived and it was time to push. I pushed for just over 5 intense minutes (they were just about as intense for Melody who was taking pictures when the camera died. Mark told her there were more batteries in the case but to her dismay she could only find 3 of the 4 she needed. Reluctantly, she said, "hey guys, I hate to interrupt, but there are only 3 here". I had the irrational thought that I need to stop pushing until the camera is ready. As kindly as a laboring women could ask, I instructed everyone to listen to me and told Mel where to find more batteries and then proceeded with labor) and Alena was born! November 25, 2011 2:14 am 7lbs 12 oz 20 1/2 inches long with lots of dark brown hair and absolutely beautiful in every way.

Awesome is an understatement! I think you always bond with your baby, but the thing that I really appreciated was how it strengthened the bond that I have with Mark. He was great through the whole thing and I can honestly say that I couldn't have done it the way I did without him (granted, I wouldn't be in this situation to begin with if it wasn't for Mark)

I have to feed the baby now so enjoy these pics.

My nephews and niece were pretty wierded out by her purple feet.

I think this one is pretty sweet, I apologize for the partial nudity.