I suppose I should have done this around her birthday but...better late than never. Besides today she is what... three years and two months old? Works for me!
Without further ado... I give you... Letteria's Story.
I was exactly 39 weeks pregnant when I got up in the wee hours of the morning to use the restroom and discovered a quite disgusting thing happening. Mucus plug. Two words that keep men up at night. It was "lost" as they say. Gag. I waited till a more civilized hour to call my mom who then yelled out to my father SHE LOST HER MUCUS PLUG! over and over again. She also said don't get excited it could take days. So I tried to move on. I'm pretty sure she called both of my grandmothers so let's just pretend we weren't really freakin excited.
Sunday mornings are always spent at my parent's house. Even now over three years later. We had a power breakfast that I didn't really enjoy because I didn't feel up to par. Just crampy. Bathroom runs. Nervousness. Matt and I took a trip down to Best Buy because the arrival of this baby was imminent and we needed a new camera. We spent a ridiculous amount of time choosing a $100 camera. But we did. And we brought it home and charged it.
I went upstairs to catch up on my Real Housewives of NJ and things started happening. I couldn't quite say it was cramps anymore. I couldn't quite ignore them anymore. I honestly can't remember where Matt was. At some point he was grilling and I had not communicated with him one bit about the pains coming regularly. Props to not communicating though right? I think I was just holding off telling him because I was concerned it would be a false alarm.
My neighbor came over to give me a pep talk. When I blanked out for a few seconds he said oh man. That was one wasn't it? Should I hold your hand or something? Again. Where was Matt? I yelled across our backyards to his wife informing her shit was getting real. I couldn't eat my dinner. I couldn't sit down. I was constantly going to the bathroom.
I called the number. I was told to lie down. I instantly did not like this person because I had heard that WALKING was the best way to expedite labor. But I listened and laid down. OH. THE. PAIN. Within an hour I had Matt make the next call. Instantly told to come in. This was probably 9:30 p.m. on that same Sunday.
You know what's a real gas? Driving twenty minutes. Sitting in a waiting room. Signing forms and handing over your driver's license and insurance information. Walking to a triage room. Waiting to be inspected. All while being attacked by horrid knock-your-wind out pains. All the time. I had three contractions from check-in to triage. Three times I had to stop. I told my triage nurse I wanted the glory of an epidural YESTERDAY. And 45 minutes later after an IV I had the best man in the planet insert just that. I didn't even stop to say hello to the line of family members waiting. I just waved my wheelchair pusher person on. Keep going. Get. Drugs. Within a few minutes I apologized to nurses and introduced myself. I allowed my family to come hang. I was me again! We watched tv. Etc.
When it came time to push there was some crazy happening with the umbilical cord. There was changing of positions. Trying different things. We later heard these four words: she's a miracle baby. Why? Because of the sizable knot in her cord. I would have died that day if I had lost her. I can't even go there.
But I didn't lose her and so I'm still here to talk about it.
3:59 a.m. Letteria Lynn entered this world. Always early. Always quick to move. Always on the go. 7 pounds 10 ounces and almost 21 inches. And she looked just like Matt. If you've been around here for the long haul you may be aware that we struggled with infertility. It took us almost two years and two IUI's to get pregnant with her. Best day of my life hearing that news. Until August 2, 2010 that is. The relief of holding her. Of meeting her. Of hearing her cries. Seeing her breathe. Smelling her. Feeding her. She's never been easy this one. But she was mine. After all that time. It all faded to nothing. Because I was finally a mommy.
And after 9 months of Matt teasing me that our IUI paperwork said 'Jose' instead of 'Matt' the first thing I said was oh thank God she looks like Matt! Bet the nurses raised an eyebrow at that.
And that is how my spit-fire entered the world. In case you ever wondered why she is the way she is.... it started really early on.