I thought this may be a good idea since I quickly realized i have already forgotten so much! Warning- It’s pretty boring for anyone besides Alex and I but it does the job… helps us remember the good stuff and the most important day of our life!
Lola came into the world already taking after her mommy and daddy, late and on her own accord… so we had to take alternative measures to meet this tiny little thing!
At 41 weeks Lola was comfy as could be in her mamas belly and to this day that’s about the only place she prefers to be, on my chest and held close against me. It’s the best feeling in the world to know that me doing nothing at all except being me can comfort her…… sometimes. Anyway, Sunday I was supposed to get a call from the hospital by 6pm regarding bed availability and when I should come up there to start the induction. I had a weird overwhelming calmness all day. It almost scared me, I’m never calm and i had been so excited waiting for this day but the only word i could place on how i felt the whole day was calm.
I almost felt guilty for not feeling more excited but Alex assured me I could feel however I wanted, which is true, after al this was kind of a big deal….I can’t remember how many times I have told clients they get to feel how they want to feel yet I seem to forget that when it’s me!
Needless to say the hospital never called so I called them and was told no beds were available to call back around 8pm…. so we went to dinner and I called about 8:15. This time i was told they didn’t have my name on the list… oh boy.
So all my calmness came in handy after all, I called my doctor and they assured me I would get on the list. I was quickly called back by the hospital and told to come in at 10pm.
So we raced home to tell the pups goodbye and we were on our way to the hospital! 
When we checked in I was still very calm but more excited now… i was accompanied by two other girls as we checked in who were not there for the happiest of reasons. So my eagerness died back down, one couple was in tears, she was around 33 weeks and in labor… the other was only 20 weeks also in pre-term labor.
I was quickly reminded again how lucky we were to be where we were, although i was pretty miserable at 41 weeks we were lucky to have made it to 41 weeks!
So we got checked in and they started the first medication around midnight… they also asked if i wanted a sleeping pill. I told them "no thank you for now and that i would try to fall asleep on my own…… big mistake. I tossed and turned until 5am and finally called the nurse to ask if it was too late to get the sleeping pill…she informed me it was too late, in two hours they would be waking me up to start inducing me.. oops! Alex and i were snuggled up in the same bed together and neither of us could sleep a wink!
The beds in Labor and Delivery are AWFUL!!!!
So a few hours later they came in and we started the Patocin around 8am to get my contractions started. 
The contractions slowly increased and most of the time i didn’t know i was even having them unless I looked at the monitor.. the nurses would come in every few minutes it seemed like asking if i wanted the epidural yet. I kept telling them “Yes, I will want it but not yet, aren’t I supposed to be further along and in significant pain before taking the epidural.. you know like in the movies?” They kept insisting “it’s up to you, it’s up to you” as much as i loved that answer and their mentality of putting me in charge i felt like it was a trick, they are the professionals, please just tell me what i need to do!
So we waited a few more hours, watched more of the winter olympics and they agreed I was progressing enough to break my water! Hooray!
Eventually the contractions increased and although they were still bearable they were combined with the nurse continually saying “listen my gold medals are all out, you aren’t getting anything special for waiting longer to get the epidural!” LOL…. did I mention we LOVED our NURSES!
So we agreed to go for it but again asked “what's the catch, are their any negatives to going ahead and getting the epidural at this point?” They insisted the only “negative” was not being able to get up and walk around anymore I said “SIGN ME UP”… after all the WORST part of the whole thing so far was trying to get out the bed to go to the bathroom with all the wires I was connected to along with having my water broken and making a complete “mess” every time i tried to get up to go to the bathroom (every 15 minutes).
So a few minutes later the anesthesis came in and gave me the epidural…. which caused me to almost knock Alex out with my leg! Apparently he hit a nerve which caused my leg to reflex instantly! My leg kicked so hard it scared us all- especially Alex, he thought I kicked due to the pain!
Looking back I guess we got the epidural at the perfect time because all of a sudden I progressed rapidly!
They informed me a short while later we were going to get ready to push…. this again was something they said very calmly and nonchalant… I had waited 10 months to hear those words!!
We got so excited but didn’t actually start to push for about another hour almost…. gravity was doing most of the work for me at this point which i was fine with!
I started pushing and it was not what I expected, it was such a calm, controlled process…We knew Lola was going to need the NICU staff present as she was born due to the meconium and they nor the doctor was even in the room yet! Never the less, I just did what Nurse Patty said and pushed when she said to push.... we talked and watched the winter Olympics between each push and when another contraction would start I was dying to hurry and push again! At one point i got really nauseous and started to throw up but I just re grouped, held on to my vomit bucket and proceeded on…. I had tunnel vision which may be why i don’t remember many details of this part… You could have been in there with a sledge hammer and i wouldn’t have cared, I wanted my baby ASAP!
Then Dr. Johnson arrived and calmly over saw our system we already had going and eventually gowned up to deliver baby lola! Then I really got excited!!
After 10 hours of “labor” and about 45 minutes of pushing baby Lola was here!!
I was not able to hold her immediately which they warned me about because of the expected meconium but she was also born not crying due to the cord wrapped tightly around her neck which had to be cut off immediately before going to the NICU team….
You would think i would have freaked out about either of these two things… I remember hearing stories about these exact situations actually happening with friends while i was pregnant and thinking “I would freak out if that happened to me!” but I’m telling you with these calm doctors and nurses that possessed such confidence it left me very little to worry about it all seemed very “under control”.
Once Lola arrived, I had to reassure Alex ten times that it was okay and for him to go see/meet Lola, she was on the other end of our room getting cleaned up and checked out and he was too scared to leave my side!
The two most beautiful things I have ever seen… them meeting. 
Proud daddy! 
He then got to bring her over to me… she was perfect.
We meet at last little girl, your finally here, i’m your mommy and your my daughter, the daughter I have waited on almost my whole life.
She laid with me and just starred at me for what seemed like forever while we held hands. I will never be creative enough to express how that felt. The whole process was absolutely amazing and nothing we would have ever expected!
Motherhood has been quite similar. hard times and sweet times but every moment is one I wish I could remember and bottle up to save forever and ever! Unfortunately it’s the most time consuming thing I could ever imagine so about the only documenting i have time for is pictures and of course Alex’s video camera!
I could not be more happy having here here with us, finally, all I have ever wanted is what I wake up to everyday!
Lola Eliza Minnicks,
Born February 10th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Weighing 7lbs 9 ounces and 20 inches long 
We then moved to a regular room where we spent the next few days which will forever and always be remembered as the busiest and absolute happiest days of my life (minus the scare of the ice storm)…
This was the first time I held her after we got to out room after delivering her… It felt so REAL now!
We had the absolute sweetest, helpful, caring, empathetic and non judgemental nurses the entire time, it was un real! I could not have imagined a sweeter experience!
I think one of the things i did really well that i am pretty proud of was not having “strong preferences or expectations”. All i wanted was a healthy baby and I had made up my mind when i was pregnant to just “go with the flow”… however, the one thing i did not expect I would do AT ALL that we did end up doing was sending Lola to the nursery at night for about 3 hours….
I remember saying “over my dead body is she leaving my side” the night before we went to the hospital… oops.
A few hours after we had moved into our room Alex and the nurse were helping me in the bathroom (I was literally in the middle of passing out at the time- no worries future mamas apparently this is very common after giving birth- that and shaking like crazy which i also did, it’s your body’s natural response to trauma) and the nurse Tech was thankfully with Lola when she turned blue and began to choke on spit up…
Alex saw it happen and I’m pretty sure that sight will forever be engrained in his mind. It scared us to death.
Thankfully the technician (ever so calmly once again) took care of Lola and it was no big deal but we could not have imagined being alone with her when that happened! We couldn’t let that fear go when we would attempt to go to sleep and having her be cared for in the nursery with the “pro’s” suddenly seemed like the greatest idea ever!!
We would stay up with her until about 3 or 4 am and feed her and watch her sleep and Alex begged me to let her sleep in the nursery but i would refuse until i started questioning myself what if she chocked while i wasn’t looking…
I eventually gave in and allowed the nursery to take her until about 6 am. I think we slept a total of 8 hours in 4 days and that’s probably an exaggeration! Life literally was flying before our eyes like nothing i could ever imagine. I remember once not being able to figure out why Lola was crying… I had “just” fed her she didn’t have a dirty diaper and even me holding her wasn’t making her feel better. The nurse came in and asked if she was hungry i said “no she just ate”, then the nurse informed me what time it was… It had been 3 hours since she last ate. I then learned my life would become moments of 3 hour increments which flies by REALLY fast!
Other days we thought we were doing better…. We would get up at 8 and make a plan…. okay i will feed Lola and you go get breakfast. By 3pm Lola had eaten three or four times, had multiple diaper changes and lou and I still had not gotten “breakfast”. 
This is when i learned another valuable lesson, the value of a granola bar!
Well that and Mcdonalds “McChicken” sandwhich (don’t judge me)which we ate for “breakfast” and dinner most days since that was the only restaurant open 24 hours a day in the hospital!
Alex and I quickly learned why they encourage you to write everything down, poops, pees, feedings and for how long! At this point we had no clue what day it was or who the president was for that matter! All we knew is that the hard part was over and we had our girl here, she was beautiful, healthy and we couldn’t be happier, we were a family.
Wednesday rolled around and it was time for us to go home, i was scared to death! I was so comfortable being in the hospital and I did not was to leave, I certainly didn’t want to drive home in the biggest snow storm of the year while they had issued a state of emergency! Once again Cheryl our nurse informed us she would “never” tell us we had to leave, she simply didn’t have the heart! She talked to her manager and they let us stay an extra night! Did i mention i love them!?!?!?
The next day the snow had melted and around 10am we packed up to leave… this is when we learned another new vital lesson… How long it takes you to go somewhere with a baby… we began the process of leaving at 10am and didn’t leave until about 4pm. 
We said our goodbyes and the one nurse who took care of us the last two days literally cried when she hugged us goodbye. She was such a special lady, they all were and they share one of the most unique experiences right there with you! She told me I had a beautiful baby and the sweetest most caring husband she had ever seen. She then added what good parents we were, she almost had this mama in tears too! I guess if you leave the hospital on day 4 as a new mommy who has yet to change the first diaper you have some pretty good help!
Alex drove like a little old man on the way home and i was so excited yet worried about the next most exciting yet dreaded task of all. Tucker and Milly meeting Lola, my heart couldn’t stand for them to be jealous or not like her. I felt like a million pounds was on my shoulders as we walked in the door. Tucker and Milly have been our babies for 9 years now and I wanted them to know that everything would be the same but now on day 4 of having Lola i realized that was not possible… things had to change a little…she takes up ALL of our waking moments and even our “sleeping moments”!
I can honestly say I was more scared walking in my front door to greet Tucker and Milly than i was walking into the labor and delivery room!
Hi Tucker and Milly! 
I had planned and thought and re-thought how i would introduce them for days, who would hold lola, who would walk in the door first… all in all the greeting went “well”. So far so good, more of that progress to come! 
We settled in and I remember going to my room laying in the bed with Lola and thinking… ok now it’s for real.
Home sweet home never meant what it does now…
Well considering this took me close to 7 months I’m thinking it may be a god idea to start blogging in bullet points in hopes of getting ANY documentation down!
We’re currently on the way to Statesboro for Lolas first trip “home”!
Hoping to be back in blog world sooner than the next 7 weeks but if not, know I am soaking up every minute with this baby girl who is growing up way too fast!
