My baby is having a birthday!

The year was 1993. I awoke on Thursday July 1st with labor pains. It was about 4:00am. We waited a few hours to see if the labor would get stronger, and we finally went to the hospital at about 10:00am. I was only dilated about 2 cm so they hooked me up to a monitor and checked the baby. Then they had me walk the halls so make my labor go faster.....yeah, right! It got to be about 4:30pm and my labor had slowed down, and the Dr said that I could leave the hospital, but that I couldn't go home, because we lived too far away. So I called my sister, who, at the time, lived about 8 minutes from the hospital. She invited us over. Upon leaving, I asked the nurse if there was anything that I could do to speed things up. She told me to eat something greasy and then drink some OJ.

So Kurt and I got a bucket of KFC, and some OJ and went to my sisters house. I was still having pains, but they were tolerable. After way too much chicken, my labor increased and I decided to hang out at my sister's house until I couldn't take it any more. At about midnight of July 2nd, I was in so much pain, so we left for the hospital.

I was checked again, and I was only 2cm.......what the?? I labored for about 12 more hours and then my water finally broke at noon on the 2nd. Finally, I thought! Maybe this baby will come after all! The Dr came in and checked me again, and he said that I was so tired that I was fighting the contractions. He suggested an epidural. I fought for about an hour, and then I gave in. At this point I had been awake for about 36 hours, and I needed to rest and relax my body.

My whole pregnancy we called my belly/baby a 'he'. We even named him: Ernie. The heart beat was very low, which is usually a boy, and during my ultrasound 'Ernie' had his legs crossed tight, so even if we would have wanted to know, (we didn't) the tech couldn't tell.

My mom came into the room later that evening and the Dr told her "I think that this baby is going to be a boy, because he is so stubborn that he doesn't want to be born!" Then my mom looked at him and said "Well, that is what you think! I guess you don't know my stubborn girls!"

FF to about 11:30pm on the 2nd. The nurse called the Dr and told him that I was ready to push. They got the warmer ready, and the dr suited up and I started pushing.

Finally at 12:32 on July 3rd, 44 hours after my labor started, and with a little help from a vacuum extractor, Lauren Elizabeth entered the world at 8lb 4oz. As soon as she came out the put her in the warmer and scooted her up beside my head. She was pouting. She was cone headed, she was beautiful, she was a GIRL!! We just stared at each other! I couldn't believe it was a girl! I loved her more than anything!

We were too exhausted at that point to name her, so we waited until the morning. I had a list of three names that Kurt and I had tentatively agreed on. I got out the list, and I looked at her and I said each name out loud. She was definitely a "Lauren Elizabeth".

It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years. She has grown into a beautiful, smart, and incredible young lady. She has never gotten a B in school ever. She was voted President of the middle school last year, and she wasn't even running for the office! She is definitely a leader and not a follower. I am very proud of the strong girl that she is becoming!

So Lauren....I hope that you have a wonderful birthday here in FL. I love you!

TTFN! Martha/Mommy