Happy Birthday, Mary McLean!

3 years ago today at this very moment, Marc and I were sitting in the triage waiting room at Greenville Hospital waiting to see if we would be able to induce labor. We had been waiting for our little baby girl to arrive for quite some time. Upon arriving at the hospital I was 4-5cm dilated and 100% effaced. I had been dilated for several weeks, but Mary Mac was being stubborn already. Dr. Dubose had stripped my membranes 3 times already trying to get labor started, but nothing was working. Marc was traveling with his job at this point, so it was hard for him to decide where he needed to be, since we were certain she was coming at any moment. We decided on an elective induction, so at noon on Thursday, November 17th, we arrived at GHS as soon as Dr. Dubose came on call. Unfortunately, she was in surgery, so we had to wait for her to finish. She came and got us around 4:00 and hooked me up to the fetal monitor in triage to monitor the baby. I was having a lot of contractions, I just couldn't feel them, she decided to strip the membranes one more time and said, "I may 'accidently' break your water, and then you will have to stay (wink, wink)" (evidently the full moon had taken effect on everyone BUT me and the beds were full) Well, she didn't break my water, but something got started and I started feeling contractions, they took me back to my room around 6:00 and got the pitocin started. It didn't take long before I was in full blown labor. After my epidural, I was able to relax and just sit back and wait to meet my little girl. It took no time at all to get to 10cm, since we had pushed for 2.5 hours with Andrew, we decided to do a couple of test pushes and see where we were. On the 3rd push, at 9:33 pm, the nurse started yelling at me to stop pushing, Mary McLean was here and our dr was nowhere in sight! The nurse wasn't even prepared, she was sitting in a stool at the foot of the bed and jumped up to put the scrubs on and take Mary McLean. The other nurse was pushing the call button and yelling for them to page my dr. At 7lbs 14 oz, and 22 inches long, she was absolutely perfect, and what an entrance!

Ever since Mary McLean was born, she has been my little "sunshine." I can't believe how much she has grown and changed over the years. She has brought so much joy to our lives and I can't imagine our family without her. Her little body is bursting with personality. Those big blue eyes can melt my heart and have me wrapped around her little finger.

Happy birthday, Mary McLean! We love you!!!

Mary McLean on her 1st Birthday

Mary McLean on her 2nd Birthday

Mary McLean on her 3rd Birthday