Happy 5th Birthday Ellie!

I cannot believe I have a 5 year old! Whenever it comes close to my kids birthdays I tend to think about what I was doing that day. I just cannot believe that it was 5 years ago that I labored for 16 hours, and pushed for 2 hours to bring into this world my beautiful little redhead, Ellie. I was so exhausted because I had not been sleeping well. I had decided on March 5 that I would not nap that day even though I needed one because I had hoped that I would get a better night's sleep if I skipped that nap. Well, I ended up having some weird pains that night so off we went to the hospital to see if everything was okay. I guess I should back up a little and say that on the morning of the 5th I received a call from my doctor saying that on the ultrasound, that I had several days previously, showed the the umbilical cord was around her neck several times. Needless to say, I was scared. I was to go into the hospital a few days later to have some test to make sure she was okay. After having those pains on the 5th, I called the hospital and the nurse said to come in and get checked to be safe. We got to the hospital at about 11 that night and they checked me out. Everything looked good. I was dilated to 1 and I cannot remember all the other stuff. They wanted me to walk the hospital for 3 hours and then get rechecked to see if anything happened. I had worn flip flops to the hospital! So we walked all over the hospital for 3 hours, from midnight till 3 in the morning. I was exhausted. My feet swelled so bad that the flip flops were leaving indentation on my feet and I was having lots of contractions. They checked me and there was no change, but the doctor decided to induce me so they could monitor her. So at 4 o'clock in the morning on March 6, 2004, I started the pitocin drip. I don't really remember it being all that bad but my family says that it was bad. I can only remember most of the good stuff, except the very end when my epidural ran out in 1 spot. Ellie was born at 8:46 p.m. (I think, it may be off a few minutes) on March 6, 2004. It was so amazing. I remember not being able to say anything. I just cried. I wanted to tell her that I was her momma but I could not open my mouth. I could not believe that I had a baby, I became a mom. Amazing. The next morning we found out that her bilirubin levels were way too high. I guess that with jaundice the numbers usually don't rise until they are a few days old and her's were rising right away. It had something to do with our blood types. So off she went to the special care nursery. It was so hard not to have her with me. Her numbers did not drop like they wanted so they ended up having to put her on triple light therapy and put an IV in her head. That was just awful to have to see her with an IV in her head. She ended up having to stay for 2 or 3 extra days after I was released. That was so hard to not be able to take her with me. Luckily, everything turned out great. How could that possibly be 5 years ago? I cannot believe that my big girl who talks about Drake from Drake and Josh and loves Hannah Montana was once that little baby. I love the little girl that she has turned into. She has the cutest personality, but it makes me so sad that she is no longer a baby. I think I am in denial.