My little girl.

My youngest and only girl, Nicole just turned 14. I can't believe how much she has grown. The kids are growing up way to fast. It seemed like yesterday when I was sitting in a hospital bed with my first son in my arms. My how time flies.

A friend just discovered she is pregnant, not planned, with twins and it got me thinking about my pregnancy with Nicole. My daughter was an ooopsie. She was a waaaayyyy biggg oooopsie. I had been having problems and the doc said it was just hormones. We were insured with Kaiser at the time and so I didn't have a regular doc. The next time I went to see a doc was months later, which was a different one, I told him I was still having issues. We went thru the same questions and he decided to run some lab work.

He came back and sat down with a smile "Well, the good news is that you are pregnant."

"What!!!! Oh crap. Okay."

"Ok, lets check and see what is going on and how far along you are."

"Well I have good news and bad news."

What is he talking about now? "Okay, what is it."

"Good news is your pregnant and already 4 1/2 months along. So your halfway done. Bad news is that you need to be on bed rest."

"WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you mean bed rest. 4 1/2 months along. But. But. But I have 3 boys running amok at home. I. but. I. Huh. Bed. No. I can't. How did this happen?"

"I don't know. Mistakes happen and somehow you tested negative when you were last seen. Now we need to send you down immediately for an ultrasound to see how the baby is and see what is causing your problems."

I went for the ultrasound and when she asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby I thought for a moment and decided yes. For all three of the boys I never knew what they were until the day they were born. Because of the conversation with the doc and his warning that I may not go to full term with the pregnancy based on the symptoms I had I wanted to know what it was. She said it was a girl and I asked her 3 times to make sure. I didn't believe it since I had 3 boys and had always wanted a little girl. Plus my sis had been told her baby was a girl and was surprised in the delivery room to see a boy.

Back in the doc's office again we went over the results of the ultrasound and it was worse than he expected. It was going to be in a battle to stay pregnant. He was surprised that I hadn't miscarried or hemorrhaged already. I left the office in a daze and was wondering how I was going to break the news to my then husband. Needless to say he wasn't very happy. The bed rest was torture. Back then we didn't have internet. Just books, VHS movies, and TV. If you want to drive a person insane that is one way to do it. I hated it but knew it was needed. We lived almost an hour away from the hospital and doctors office and I spent tons of time driving back and forth for frequent ultrasounds and checkups to make sure she was okay. We scheduled for her to be delivered on Sept. 6th. I could have had her on my birthday a few days later but I wanted her to have her own birthday. She was delivered cold turkey with no drugs, not by my choice, since she came so quickly after they started induction. That was pure hell and I give kudos to any woman who does it.

She was one hard earned bundle of joy.

Nicole on the Right