By Special Request

The History of Big Princess

I forgot to mention here but Big Princess turned 19 this weekend. Hard to believe its been 19 years since I first saw her.

I was in the military when I had her so I didn't own my own life. People told me what to do almost every minute of the day. I was horrified when they expected me to exercise during pregnancy. "Are you kidding me?" And I made the mistake of eating for two (grown adults) and put on 60 lbs. My due date was 11/23 (little princess' birthday) and it came and went without so much as a twitch. I was told not to worry, first time moms tend to run long. Atleast that's what I think he said. The staff of doctors were foreign and I couldn't understand much of what they said.

So every day past my due date I had to listen to over 100 people say "what? you haven't had that baby yet?" I just wanted to scream at each of them "do I look like I've had this baby!" especially as I reach week 3 past my due date. I was only going into the office half days because the rest of the time I was too tired to move and spent the other 20 hours a day in bed.

Finally, the doctors said they would induce me as Big Princess was obviously shy and needed encouragement to make an appearance.

I was to be at the hospital at 5 am. I don't know why, you'd think they would want the mother to be rested, but no. My girlfriend and lamaze coach drove me the 20 miles to the hospital and I was getting more nervous the closer we got. After checking in, the nurse was to start an IV to give me the drugs. I don't know if she was bad at hitting a vein or what but after about the 11th miss I was hysterical and crying. The trauma of it all had started my labor but I still had to have an IV. The doctor walked in and and got it on the first try in the back of my hand.

Labor was slow and boring for the first 10 hours. Don't get me wrong, it hurt a lot. By the time it got regular I was exhausted and delirious. I remember the nurses all standing around watching the Cosby show and ignoring me. I vaguely remember a nurse telling me to be quiet during the contractions. Apparently I was screaming.

Around 10 pm the doctor said Big Princess' heart rate was decreasing during contractions and we couldn't wait any longer. It was time for a c-section. I was supposed to read this long ass document explaining the dangers and sign it. I was so out of it I couldn't manage my name so I signed an X. Then they took me thru long dark hallways to the operating room. While technically I was a wake for the surgery, I was totally out of it. Big Princess came into the world at 11:32 and weighed the unheard of 9 1/2 lbs.

When it came time to check out of the hospital 13 days later she didn't fit into the newborn size and I didn't have anything to take her home in. My friends had to run out and get a 3-6 month size outfit. She was a cute little thing with startling blue eyes who slept thru the night before we left the hospital.