SHE IS FINALLY HERE!!

Well I know some of you have anxiously been waiting to see pictures of little baby Gracie and sorry it has taken me so long. I can't believe she will be a week old tomorrow but time flies when you have a new baby. Anyway for journaling purposes I want to take a moment and write about that special day so you can stop reading now if you would like and I will save you the pain and agony and for those that are patient and want to hear in great detail what happened from beginning to end....have a seat! On Tuesday morning July 1st, 2008 I woke up about 4:00 in the morning with the worst cramps I have ever had! Then about 4:30 I realized what was happening and those cramps turned into contractions. So I got out of bed and started to time then (I was in to much pain to sleep). They were about 5-7 minutes apart. At first I wasn't even sure if I was in labor so I got on the computer (I know I am retarded) to ASK.com I guess my worse fear was to go to the hospital to be sent home for "False Labor". It said that if they didn't let up and they were consistent then it probably was actual labor. I realize that I should know what this is because I have had a baby before but for one I forgot (thank heavens) and two my first experience was all so different. Also every time I went up and down the stairs they were a little worse each time. That night before I had gone to bed I said my prayers and I was telling Heavenly Father I was sorry that I was feeling sorry for myself because there are worse things in the world that people are dealing with right now and that knew I needed to be humble and to just let the baby come when she was supposed to as long as she was strong and healthy and it was time for her tom come. So needless to say I wasn't sure if it was all real or not. The contractions continued on until about 6:00 a.m. and then they just stopped and I fell asleep until 6:30 and then they started back up again. This time they were every 5 minutes apart and even stronger and harder. I called my mom at 7:00 a.m. I couldn't wait any longer I told her what was happening. I told her I didn't know when I should go to the hospital because I wasn't about to go to be sent home. She suggested to wait until I couldn't handle the pain any longer. So I decided I might as well do stuff around the house and get ready to make the time go by faster. I got in the shower and started to blow dry my hair since it had not been washed in 5 days! I would pause and breath through every contraction which continued on every 4-5 minutes. Easton came in the bathroom every now and then and would try and talk to me and I would say I can't talk right now. It was really sweet because he said "Mommy I don't want you to hurt anymore". Well about 10:30 a.m. I couldn't handle it anymore. So my sister Jamie came and got Easton and Devin and I headed to the hospital. We got there about 11:00 and got registered and they put me into a big delivery room and told me to put a gown on. Luckily my moms good friend and friend of the family Leslee Moore was there and was my nurse for awhile it was so nice to have somebody there that I knew. She got me hooked up to an IV and "checked" me. I was dilated to a two is all and 70% e-faced. They got me hooked up to all the monitors to watch the baby's heart rate and my contractions which were every 3 minutes apart now. The hospital wouldn't officially admit me yet because IHC has some stupid rule that you have to be 39 weeks and I was 38 weeks and 6 days. Well needless to say my contractions were steady and they were still thinking about sending me home but luckily my blood pressure was really high which was weird because I never have high blood pressure and hadn't this whole pregnancy. So Leslee called my Dr. to let him know, he wanted blood work done to be sent to the lab to find out if I was toxic and they gave me some pain medication to be put into my IV to help with the pain. My lab work came back fine which was weird but my blood pressure was still high. Leslee said she just thought it was my body saying it was ready to be done being pregnant, I liked that idea. At 1:00 p.m. she checked me again I was dilated to a three and still 70% e-faced. My doctor called back and said to admit me because he wasn't about to send me home with high blood pressure (whew!) and it was stupid that I was having contractions and 39 weeks they next day. So about 2:00 I was admitted and close to 3:00 I got my epidural which hurt like crazy. I don't remember it hurting that bad with Easton. I think I squeezed Devin's hand so hard that it was purple. Well from 3:00 until 6:30 they kept checking me and I just couldn't get pass that three, which was the same thing I did with Easton. I kept thinking that I was going to end up having another c-section and that I just couldn't dial ate on my own and because I had a c-section they were not about to just start me on PIT to get me going because it could cause problems. I had this great nurse named Stephanie and she was telling us that were at this point I was having contractions every two minutes now and they were strong and hard that I should be doing something on my own. The contractions were pretty intense and my epidural was starting to wear off. I was in soooo much pain and some of the contractions kept going off the charts.They told me at any time now if I said I wanted it to be over and to just do a c-section that they would. I thought ok I need to give myself a breaking point so I said if I still hadn't done anything by 9:00 p.m. that I would just go ahead and have a stupid c-section which I did not want to have more than anything. Well I was starting to feel all this pressure really bad down there so my mom went and got my nurse she came in and checked me again (it was 6:30) and she said "mmmm" and I thought to myself still a freaking three and then she said you are at a seven and 100% e-faced. I was so excited tears streamed down my face. I said to her I bet you have never had anyone so excited and happy before about being a seven! Well I continued on and the pressure and pain was almost unbearable (so I thought). Then at 7:30 p.m. exactly one hour later she came in again and now I was at ten and ready to go. She then explained to me what I needed to do to start the whole pushing process so we practiced through that next contraction. I continued to push through every contraction which even though I was in so much pain and my epidural had worn off a bit I was glad because it felt good to push, it was weird how it was so natural to "bear down" as they call it. She had me continue to do that until the Dr. could come in and the baby's head had to be in the crowning position before he could come in and take over anyway. He was actually in the next room delivering another patients baby. Finally about 8:00 p.m. I had pushed her out enough to were her head was through the pelvis and just sitting right there in the "crowning position". They had me stop pushing for a minute because we had to wait for the Dr. who came in just a minute later to suit up. The pain and pressure was unbelievable I just wanted to push so bad. He was suiting up and Dr. Rees was like hang in there don't do anything yet. He was kind of making a joke and in the middle of the contraction and all the pain I joked back well just hurry up then and get over here and let's get this baby out! Everyone in the room kind of laughed. Devin and I had decided to just have our moms in the room. I would have been fine with my sisters in there but that's how Dev really wanted it and I wanted this to be special for him too! He was so cute during the whole thing, holding my hand counting through the contractions to help me push and breath! He was such a great coach and support. So I really started pushing hard a little after 8:00 p.m. to get this baby out. It was nothing like I ever thought or experienced before and yet felt so great to do. I just closed my eyes and focused on Dev's counting and everyone saying your doing so good a little harder or here she comes keep pushing. Dev just kept saying your doing so good sweety she's almost out. It helped even more to hear everyone cheering me on and it made me want to push even harder to get her out so it could just be over. It was the sound of my sweet husbands voice is what got me through, I love him so much and don't know what I would have done without him. He was my rock during the whole thing! When we got to her shoulders that hurt really bad and the dr. said I could only push just a little bit when i just wanted it over. I remember Dr. Rees saying "Amy look and I looked down and I could see my baby's head and upper body and then the next thing I know was one little push and it was over not only did I see him pull her out of me but I felt the lower half of her body actually leave and being pulled down through my stomach and out! It was one of the neatest most coolest things I have ever felt or experienced! She was finally here at 8:21 p.m. Gracie Nicole Jensen was born and her sweet spirit filled the room. The set her right on my stomach and cleaned her off and wiped her down. She barely even cried just for a moment. The Doctor then asked Devin if he wanted to cut the cord and he did. I think he thought that was pretty cool! While she was on my stomach I was saying it's ok Gracie and was just talking to her and it was so neat because she knew my voice and calmed right down. I started to cry and I looked at Devin and he had tears in his eyes too it was such a great moment. They took her from me and wrapped her up and handed her to Devin to take her over to check her out to make sure she was ok and to see how much she weighed. He was just beaming such a proud papa. He just had tears in his eyes and was so sweet with her and that's when I fell in love with him all over again. It was funny because my overly excited sisters cracked open the door and would peek there heads in every now and then to see what was going on. Gosh I love them! Well the verdict was in Gracie weighed 6lbs. 11 ounces and was 18 and a half inches long! She has lots of light brown sandy blondish hair and looks just like her daddy. She was so alert after she was born and has these big huge eyes. She already just had this sweet demeanor about her, she was so calm and just looked every around the room when you held her. Everyone finally all came in once I was all cleaned ans stitched back up. The cutest thing though was when Easton came in and saw Gracie for the first time and Dev went to go help him with her so he could hold her and again it was Devin's eyes that filled up with tears watching Easton hold his baby sister for the first time and then mine watching Devin! It was so cute because Devin would be holding her and then bring her to me so I could could hold her and then come back a minute later and said ok let me see her. I will be honest he surprised me I wasn't sure how he was going to be and not just with her but with everything and he was wonderful and sweet during labor and delivery and just loved that baby girl from the moment she was born! Everyone that was there was my mom, Devins mom, my dad, all three of my sisters, Devins sister Monica and Easton. It was such a special, neat and spiritual day in which I will always remember. It was one of those defining moments in your life that you never want to forget and puts everything into perspective. It was also special for me because it turned out perfect I got to do a vaginal delivery which was what I wanted more than anything and with that came this sense of accomplishment, I was really so proud of myself even though women do it every day. It made me feel good to because the nurse and Dr. kept saying how well I did especially for a first time vaginal delivery and how I just pushed her right out, my nurse Stephanie (so wonderful by the way) said it couldn't have gone more perfect! Most of all I delivered a perfectly healthy beautiful baby girl in which I thank my Heavenly Father for.