A Memorial Day to remember

 It was my last weekend to be pregnant, praise God!! I had went to my last Doctor appointment and was scheduled to be induced at 40 weeks on Tuesday, May 31st. I had talked with my husband a few times about how I have thought about having natural labor with no pain meds, neither him nor I ever thought I could do it. Well Sunday we went to church and went out to eat with some of our church family- we then came home and worked in our pool to get it up and running. Later that night my back begin to hurt. Something told me to get our bag completely packed, so Bradley helped me get everything together. I told Bradley that I wouldn't be surprised if my water didn't break, he asked if I wanted to go to the hospital but since we live an hour away I didn't want to go and it be a false alarm. As the night went on I tossed & turned and finally got out of bed at 1:15 and realized that I may be in labor. Still unsure I called my mom and my mother in law and agreed to go ahead and go to the hospital. We threw our stuff in the car and called my father in law to come and get Owen & off we went. We live exactly an hour from the hospital- we left our house at 2:05 and after running two red lights, my water breaking in the car & driving really fast we arrived at the hospital at 2:50. We pulled in and hopped out of the car and headed for the door. Bradley left my car parked at the front door running- I remember walking back to the car saying " Bradley, we can't leave the car running with the keys in it, we are in Huntsville it will get stolen!" The door we went to was locked so we head to another door- halfway to that door I had a contraction and all I could do was drop to the concrete (why I squatted on the concrete in front of the hospital I will never know- I guess because of the amount of pain I was in but that didn't help me any) Bradley got a wheel chair for me and we wheeled into the hospital- the waiting room we went in had no one in it, Finally a security guard carrying a box of doughnuts walked in and pointed us to labor and delivery. Once we made it to L&D floor we told front desk I was in labor-- well actually I was yelling "she's coming out!!" Thankfully they had my paperwork ready for me to be induced on Tuesday so I didn't have to worry about any of that! The nurse wheeled me into my room and began to strip my clothes off- once I was on the bed they called two doctors to make sure someone could get there in time. Within a minute there were 7 nurses and 2 doctors in the room. I asked for something for pain and the nurse said It was too late for that she was coming, I immediately said "I'm going to die!" I even got in trouble from one of the nurses- she told me I needed to get ahold of myself- which helped me see that I had to man up so to speak. The nurses had me hooked up to the machines for four mins and at 3:06 Nora Kate Hooper was born weighing 7lbs 12oz and 19 inches long. Isn't it funny how God has a sense of humor?? There is no way I would of volunteered myself to have all natural labor.. But It wasn't in God's plan to have medication with NK. Although at the time I thought I was going to die, I felt so much better after having NK all natural-- I remember after having Owen with an epidural I was so sore for a week or so but with NK I was fine right after having her. 

I will never forget either one of my kids birth stories but Nora Kate's was definitely one for the books! Just like one of those births you see in the movies. I am so thankful for the whole staff of Huntsville Women & Children's hospital for their swift & kind service!!