Today is Marlee's third Birthday. Since she was born I have been wanting to right about her birth so I would never forget about it and now 3 years later I think I am finally going to do it. Since we make a Blog Book about the year, I will always have it to read. Anyway, hang in there with me as I recall quite possibly the longest and most difficult day of my life,(and if you don't want to, skip down the current stuff!).
The Birth Story:
Three years ago RIGHT NOW I was almost at the end of the most physically straining day of my life. I got to the Parker Hospital at about 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday September 20th, 2005. I was already having contractions about every 4 minutes and was dilated to a 3. The gave me an IV with Pitocin and let things really begin. I labored through the night on my own getting very little sleep and at noon on Wed. September 21st I was ready for my epidural! They gave me my epidural around then and things calmed down. Marlee had decided to come out "Sunny Side Up", which the Doctor had warned me is a lot harder to push out and would probably take longer than normal. She had also had her first bowel movement inside which meant there was a high risk of infection. After a quick transition and some throwing up, I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing at about 4:00 p.m. By then, I had a fever of almost 103 because of the infection and had already been laboring for about 20 hours. I pushed for just over an hour and the Doctor told me that there was a good chance I would have to end up getting a C-Section (which after laboring for that long, and working that hard was the LAST thing I wanted!). I continued to push for another hour and she finally laid down the law. She said I had ONE more contraction to push through and they were rushing me in to the OR. She got the vacuum and placed it, so I pushed the "one" more time and she said "Woops, looks like this vacuum is broken", so she has to replace it and I ended up getting one last shot. Marlee took the hint, and with the help of the vacuum was born just after 6:00 p.m. After almost 22 hours of labor. There were about 10 people in my room, Collin was the only one I knew. The rest were NICU nurses and OB nurses prepping me for the C-Section. Anyway, it was the closest thing to an "out of body" experience I have ever had. It was extremely long and challenging. I think even harder than having Makenna with no epidural. It tested my strength, and my patience more then I ever could have imagined, but she was worth EVERY MINUTE of it. I always knew that I wanted to be a mom, and that I loved kids...but becoming a mom exceeded all my expectations. I will never find anything I love to do more than be a mom. Marlee, you make me a better person and I feel so lucky to be your mom. I love you, and I can't imagine our lives without you.
Right at the end...I forget how BIG I got with her!
My brand new baby girl 
Our first family pictures!
2 Years Old
Now, my sweet little girl is three years old which just blows my mind. She is so much like me in so many ways, which is probably why she makes me crazy sometimes. But, 99.9% of the time she is everything I have ever wanted in a child. She is sweet, funny, beautiful, outgoing, silly, smart and she is a lover of people. She is my Princess. Happy Third Birthday Princess Marlee.
Well, I am FINALLY sitting down for a quick catch up session! Marlee's Princess Birthday Party was over a week ago and this is the first chance I have had to sit and post pictures!
