Introducing Audrey Anne Ferguson. Born on Monday, September 17, 2012, at 10:05 PM. Weighing in at 7 lbs 0 oz and measuring 20 1/4 inches long.

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Here's my attempt at remembering how it all went down.
Last Sunday I was not feeling too hot. Vomiting and a very tight belly. Turns out I was having mild contractions and didn't know it. We went to Costco and HEB and planned out our week. Monday morning around 4 am, I felt my water break while I was laying in bed. I rushed to the bathroom just in time for the big gush that just wouldn't stop. Called the answering service for Dr. Roberts and they told us to come on in to labor & delivery. Called my mom around 4:15 to tell her this was it and it to head to Houston. Since we're only 5 minutes from the hospital, I took a quick shower since I didn't know when the next opportunity for this would be. Smart move because I didn't end up getting to shower until 3 days later.
We already had pregistered at the hospital so we got into a room pretty quickly. My water was still leaking everywhere but the nurse wanted to do a little test to make sure it was in fact amniotic fluid. I don't think there was any doubt but I guess protocol is protocol. They got me all hooked up to monitors and the IV. Dr. Roberts came in around 7:30 or so to check me. Still a cm dilated but I was having contractions every 2-4 minutes which I still really couldn't feel. There was also a little bubble of the sac left so she popped that. I got hooked up to pitocin to get the labor progress going faster.
I was checked every few hours and was dilating more and more each time. The pain started intensifying so I got the epidural around 1:30. Helped with the pain almost instantly but it was so weird not to be able to feel anything from the waist down. Getting the epidural itself hurt some. By the looks of the contractions on the monitor screen, I was really glad not to be feeling anything. They asked everyone to step out while their giving the epidural. Fine with me because that needle is huge and I didn't want anyone getting queasy while the anesthesiolost was trying to get that huge needle in my back. After they were done (20-30 minutes later), the nurse went to get Neal and Mom but couldn't find them. They came sneaking in a few minutes later with Chick-fil-a cups. The stinkers had walked across the sky walk to the mall to get lunch. Mind you I couldn't have anything but ice chips but I actually wasn't that hungry. Yet.
I labored all afternoon, waiting and waiting. Still dilating but Audrey wasn't dropping as she should have been. She was very comfortable right at my pelvic bone. Around dinner time, I wasn't still only dilated to 9.5 cm and she hadn't dropped. The monitor was also showing that my contractions were slowing down. They watched me a few more hours and then decided to do a C-section at 9, 17 hours after we had arrived at the hospital. I was a little sad that this was the route we now had to go but my first priority was to get her here safely. They got me prepped for surgery and wheeled me back to the OR. I was a little freaked out and had a reaction to the medication. The top part of my body was shaking furiously and I was vomiting. Neal held my hand the whole time while I was crying because I felt so weird. I'll never forget that moment when they held Audrey over the curtain for me to see her the first time. Neal was able to see her get cleaned up, weighed and all that good stuff. I couldn't see anything because of where I was positioned. Neal then brought her over to me and cue the waterworks again. I just couldn't believe this little thing had just come out of me and she was ours to keep forever. While they sewed me up, Neal took Audrey out to the recovery room. It took about 30 minutes to get me put back together and I was vomiting the whole time. I was still sick when I got to recovery. I had to wait a long time to hold Audrey because I was still so sick.
I'm sure I've forgotten many things but that's the story of how we became parents to the most awesome little girl ever. We stayed in the hospital for 3 days. Learned how to breastfeed. Learned that we had no idea what sleep deprivation really felt like. Learned that I could go 48 hours without eating. Learned that when someone offers to help you, take them up on that offer.