Happy Birthday Eve, Miss Julia...

I remember every moment of my life 5 years ago with perfect clarity. How many of you can tell me exactly what you were doing on December 27, 2000 at around 7pm.

I for one was eating a delicious dessert at the steakhouse Dan and I loved when we lived in Tucson. I was so nervous and excited that I could barely eat - but starving and excited to be upright all the same!

I had been on bedrest for about 5 weeks at this point - 3 weeks of REAL bedrest (you know, when you really have to think about how badly you have to pee or not since you only get 2 hours of sitting upright time a day!) at the end of my pregnancy with Julia. I had pre-eclampsia and they were watching me and my lovely blood pressure very closely.

Earlier that day I went to see my beloved Dr. Ed for my 37 week check up - and they couldn't get my BP down - even after an hour on my left side. At my 36 week check up they had to send me for a blood panel to check my liver (I think that's the organ they were looking into... ) and things were still ok. Dr. Ed left the room to do something (I'm guessing check his vacation schedule) and came back in and asked me if I wanted to have a baby the next day. My heart lept straight into my throat. I was so excited and scared. He explained that I wasn't going to get better with time - and that he was heading to Cabo on New Years Eve and he didn't want to be out of town when I had a problem (he was a very big believer in delivering his patients babies).

So - Dr. Ed told Dan to take me home - get me packed up and have a fantastic dinner. It would be our last meal alone for a while - and I wouldn't be able to eat again after 8pm. He whipped us into the ultrasound room to make sure our Julia was still head down and ready for delivery - and he estimated her weight at 6 lb 5 1/2 oz.

Dan and I nervously headed out of the office to make our phone calls and final preparations. We made sure we had everything we needed packed - and went to dinner. I had a fabulous prime rib and some sort of cheesecake for dessert.

After our meal we drove to the hospital - in almost complete silence. Dan finally told me he had to go back into work (gotta love the restaurant business) for a couple of hours. I told him just to go home and get some sleep after he was done... since I would be fine at the hospital myself. More anxious silence.

He stayed with me through the check-in, including the mean, mean nurse putting the IV into my arm (right under my thumb - worst place in the world for an IV!) and blowing it - so that blood was everywhere. They did the things they do to prepare your body to do something un-naturally natural (inducement of labor), and told me to call if I thought I went into labor. :)

Shortly there after he headed out and my friend Miss A arrived, bringing lots of magazines, after visiting for a while - I had the room to myself. I watched tv, read magazines and listened to various babies cry around me.

I tried my best to sleep that night - but I was so anxious. I was nervous as to what labor would be like, what my sweet little girl would like, if she'd be ok, if I'd be ok, and what the next 18 years of my life were going to be like as a MOM!

I finally fell asleep around 3am...