It's Danny's birthday!

My due date for Danny was November 12, 2004. He was breach, so I had a version (where the doctors try to turn a breach baby into position for delivery) scheduled for October 22. Kevin, my mom and I went to the hospital at 8:00 a.m. that Friday morning and waited through ultrasounds, examinations, other moms in labor and various personnel changes until around 11:00 a.m. when the doctors attempted the version. Needless to say, it was uncomfortable and it didn't work. Danny's little bottom was wedged into my pelvis and he wasn't going to move.

I had been having pretty strong Braxton-Hicks contractions for a while prior to the version attempt, but immediately after the procedure, the contractions were pretty regular. They didn't think I was in labor, but they wanted to make sure, so we stayed in the hospital, hooked up to monitors for a few more hours.

At this point, I was starving. The kind of starving where you consider eating your hospital gown. I wasn't allowed to eat anything at all that day prior to the procedure or during it in case I went into labor and had to have a C-section. Finally, we were discharged and decided to go to the Boston Beanery so I could seriously chow down.

While we were sitting there, I noticed my back starting to ache. I said, "Hmm...my back is hurting." My mom perked up, "What do you mean? Because that's how I always knew I was in labor...my back started to hurt." I said, "It's like PMS cramps, but I know I'm not in labor...I was just at the hospital and they said everything was fine." So, we finished our lunch/dinner and went home.

I decided to have a nap after the exhaustion of the version procedure, so I went to sleep in our bed. Kevin fell asleep on the couch, watching tv. A few minutes into my nap, I rolled over, then stood up and realized that my water had broken!

PANIC!

My baby wasn't supposed to be born for almost another month...I wasn't ready, mentally. I know that sounds crazy, I mean I knew I was having a baby, but I thought I had a little more time.

I went to the bathroom and tried to clean up a little, but anyone who has been in this situation realizes that it's not possible to clean up. I ran out to Kevin..."Kevin, the baby's coming...wake up!" Kevin jumped up, "How do you know?" I was like, "My water broke...look at me!" "OK, I'll get the car...I'll pull around to the front!"

Off to the hospital we went. Kevin started calling people. My mom, Arlene, Heidi, and Mary Kathryn all came to the hospital. I couldn't stop crying...I was so nervous. I was afraid of the epidural and the C-section and I was freaking out about becoming a mommy.

I can remember praying that Danny would be healthy and that everything would go all right with the delivery. I was so desperate to see his little face.

The epidural was great. I wasn't in full-out labor, so I wasn't really feeling uncomfortable contractions, but the feeling of weightlessness was awesome. I loved how I didn't feel so heavy! Also, I loved the anesthesiologist. His name was Curtis and he was so great. I was crying and he was trying so hard to ease our fears. He kept saying, "Why are you crying?" I said, "I'm just scared." He said, "Don't be scared...we do this a couple times every day." He held one of my hands and Kevin held the other while the surgery was happening. He said, "Count back from ten and your baby will be born." He took the first pictures of Danny.

Those first pictures...Danny with his mouth wide open, screaming for all he was worth, covered in yucky stuff, but so absolutely gorgeous! He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I couldn't and still can't believe that we were blessed with such an angel.