Aunt Amanda

Today I had the day off from babysitting, so I had planned on working on my Nutrition paper ALL DAY LONG.

Just one day to type it all out, get the rest of the facts I wanted and then I would have Friday and Saturday to edit.  It’s due Sunday (originally I flipped a little and thought it was due tomorrow), so perfect plan right?

I stayed up late last night baking delicious Christmas goodies with some ladies (more on that later!), so I set my alarm for 9am to get a full 8 hours of sleep.  This was the plan to have a fully-rested, awesomely productive day.

Well, I woke up without an alarm (which is weird) and checked my phone to see what time it was.  7am.  That meant only 6 hours of sleep, so I rolled over and put a pillow over my head in an attempt to get back to sleep.  A short time later, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize.  I had gotten about five of these last night, so I just ignored it and tried to snooze a little longer.

For some reason I was just restless and had a really weird dream that my friend Emily was giving birth and I was there.  Okay the only weird part was that I was there… because she is in fact pregnant.

I finally got up around 9am, checked my phone and immediately went into panic mode.

I got a text from my sister Courtney (who was due in about a week).  It was send around 7:15am and it said that she was at the hospital and dialated 8 or 9cm, with pretty frequent and intense contractions.  The call was from mom who was on her way to the hospital..eek!  I was almost sure she had had the baby already since it was 2 hours later!!

I could not seem to get a grip and get myself dressed fast enough.  I made sure I packed food since my stomach was already grumbling and I figured I’d just hang out there all day.

I looked at the time and it had been a whole hour since I read the text message and replied to her, “Omggggg I will be there asap!!”

When I finally arrived and worked my way through the maze of a hospital, I saw my sister, sitting with her legs in the butterfly position, like Buddah.  Of course I had to tease her with “Ommm” sounds, acting like I was meditating.  I think I make dumb jokes when I’m nervous.

She had gotten an epidural around 10am (after having contractions since 5pm the night before!!) and they were waiting a little bit for her to push.  We got a couple of pictures and I tried to tweet my excitement, although the reception there was terrible!

The doctor came in and Courtney had decided that her boyfriend and mom would be the only ones allowed in the room.

My mom is awesome.  She was so reassuring to both those of us waiting in the family room and to my dear sister.

Anxiously awaiting baby Aaron!

When little Aaron was born around 1:45pm and had to be taken to the NICU to drain a little fluid out of his lungs, mom made all of us feel at ease.  It does help that she’s a nurse AND has had four babies so she knows what she’s talking about.

Rachel and Courtney’s best friend, Lauren

I can’t even describe how amazing it felt to meet little Aaron.  He is perfect.  His skin is all wrinkley like a little old man, and his head is super funky cone-shaped, but there is just something about a newborn baby that is so precious, despite all of that.

Courtney is doing well, although she is so sad she can’t hold Aaron.  He fine, but is in the NICU while they monitor his blood sugar.  The nurses there are amazing and explained everything to us.  I am pretty sure she saw the concerned look on my face when she said “low blood sugar.”  The nurse assured us that this was something very small and simple to fix.  He is breathing on his own and is looking great. 

I wanted to stay with him forever, but I had to get home to work on that dang paper.  Which I should be doing now.  Oops.