18 Years Ago Today I was Blessed Beyond Imagination!

ANNOUNCING!!!!!

Bailey Dawn Freemire

2/11/1993

8 pounds 12 ounces!

23.5 inches long!

After only 4 months of marriage we were thrilled to discover that we were about to become parents!  I was sick...I mean, really sick!  At first it was due to my HCG levels being extremely elevated.  I was pregnant with twins, but early on I lost one of them.  Did I mention I was sick?  I was so sick that my organs started to shut down...I ended up with a week stay in the hospital the day after my youngest sister, Amy, was married. I ended up spending the next 9 months throwing up...nothing seemed to help. So I spent my time planning the delivery.....

Like most expectant type A, control freak, soon to be moms, I had the birth all planned out!  I would be completely ready, have the bags packed, and go in after a nice shower.  I would deliver with soft music playing and NO DRUGS!  I would feel refreshed, beautiful and rejuvinated....HA!

However, my due date came.....and went....and went into the next month!  I was due January 29th....My Dr. told me my body just wasn't ready to give up the baby....WHAT???!!!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  MY BODY WAS SO READY TO GIVE UP THIS BABY!

So, after almost being 2 weeks late and a few non-stress tests later, I entered the hospital on February 7th to be induced. I spent 3 days on Pitocin!  After the 3rd day, my very patient Dr. sat on the end of my bed and very gently told me that enough was enough.  I could either have an epidural in the morning or a C-section.  But one way or another, I was going to deliver on the 11th...

That night, my baby thought it would be a good idea, that even though the pitocin was turned off for the night, she was NOT about to let me sleep and began contractions!  UGH, really?  why couldn't she have done this earlier...like two weeks earlier?  All through the night I had the back and leg labor AND Scott falling asleep on my STOMACH in between contractions...so much for the Norman Rockwell picture I had so painstakinly painted over the last 10 months!

So, in the morning,...I chose the epidural...and ya...about that....I have a curvature in my spine and that made the process of the epidural difficult.  OH!  did I mention that on the Pitocin that I had ALL back and leg labor?  YEP!  So, they tell me to sit hunched over (riiiight - a VERY pregnant woman hunched?) OH, and they tell me not to move....HAVE THEY EVER HAD BACK AND LEG LABOR???...likely NOT!

Scott was holding me from the front and could see over my back to see what they were doing...or not doing....and how much this epidural was, as they now say, an EPIC FAIL!  They kept whispering something about a "false resistance".  It took three different needles, my husband calling for someone to "take his wife" cuz he was about to pass out from watching the proceedure, and a nurse yelling, "this is why I don't want dad's 'helping' me do my job!"  They finally got the dang thing in and boy did I feel better....

You'd think things would improve, right?  NOPE...By the time my body was ready to start letting me push, I had to push for 2 1/2 hours!  AND they wanted to use forecepts to help get the head unstuck...by that time I had had enough...I pushed without contractions and pushed and PUSHED cuz I saw those forecepts...NO WAY were THOSE THINGS gonna be used on MY BODY!

FINALLY! 

My precious girl!

All through the night, when Scott wasn't sleeping on my stomach, he would sing to me.  One song he sang was the old Hymn, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness".  I was so tired, I was so discouraged, I was at my end.  I kept hearing, "morning by morning, new mercies I see.  All I have needed, thy Hand hath provided.  Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me."  After 4 days of labor, I needed His mercies morning by morning...All that I needed His hand DID provide.  He was faithful... So, because every morning His mercies are new...DAWN was her middle name.  Bailey came from two places.  Scott loved the name from the old TV show, WKRP in Cincinnati and it was his mother's maiden name...so Bailey Dawn was our daughter....

Bailey is a strong girl, she used to hang back and watch before trying anything...now she just jumps right in!  She is beautiful, smart, funny, talented and wise beyond her years.   She has friendships that have lasted her whole life...She is faithful and true.  She has been a wonderful older sister by example.  She has a way of facing adversity head on with beautiful strength, courage and beauty.  She finds humor around every corner.  She is not one to be jealous of others, but rejoices in other's sucess and blessings. 

Bailey, I love you so much.  You were such a gift from God and continue to be.  You are about to embark on your next phase of your life.  You are called to be a nurse.  I am confident you will be a wonderful nurse...that's how you are wired up...to care for others, to use your strength, experience and compassion to minister to others.  I am so proud of you!  I love you!

Now some pictures of her life....

Happy Birthday, Bailey!!!