Our Little Peanut has arrived

Samantha Lynn Kowalczyk was born 10/10/2008 at 5:06 pm at Fort Sanders Hospital in Knoxville, TN. She was 8lbs 8oz and 21 1/2 inches. She is absolutely beautiful.

I had a doctors appointment on 10/9, and my blood pressure was really high, so they decided I was going to be induced on 10/10 and to be at the hosptial by 6 am. Jim and I drove home from the doctors office in complete shock they our little miracle was going to be coming the next day. As we called everyone, everyone was scrambling to figure out how they could get down to TN ASAP! Thursday night, Jim and I spent the night getting things ready for the hosptial and for "peanut" to come home. Plus I had some work that I had to finish!

Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night. We had to leave by 4:30 am to get to the hospital by 6. Our drive to the hosptial was nothing out of the oridnary. It was a beautiful morning, and we just talked about how at the end of the day our lives were going to be completely different and how we were looking forward to find out if it was a boy or a girl and to finally meet this little miracle.

We arrived at the hospital checked in and was brought to my labor and delivery room. I was already 2 cm dialated. I changed and was immediately hooked up to monitors and check my blood pressure and the baby's heart beat. Everything was good. Samantha however was very active that morning. She kept kicking the monitor off of me and the nurse was in all the time putting it back on. The doctor came in at 8 to break my water and they had then decided to attach the fetal monitor to the baby's head. What a wierd feeling to have your water broken. I felt like i was constantly peeing. It wasn't that "gush" that everyone talks about. They also hooked me up to Pitocin right away as well to get things moving. For about 2 hours I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes and my back started cramping up really bad. Jim was doing the best he could to help release the pain in my back but it was going away, so I decided to get the epidural. The anestologist came in and he was such a wonderful guy. I know Jim was very interested in what he was doing. The doctor asked him if he wanted to watch the procedure and Jim asked me if it was ok. I said yes and he was very pleased. Once the medicine kicked in, I was in Seventh Heaven. My doctor came in right around this time and I was at 5 cm, so I was progressing nicely.

Since I was feeling better, Jim continued studying for his test that he had on Monday. I was sleeping here and there, and I was on the phone with family as they were all on their way down. At about 1pm, the doctor came in and said I was fully dialated, but the baby wasn't in position yet. He said he would be back in a couple of hours and see where I was at that point. He came back at 3 and the baby still hadn't moved down so he said we were going to have to do a C-section. I really didn't want to do a c-section, so I had asked him if we could wait another hour to see if things had changed. He agreed since the baby was fine and so was I. Neither of us were in any danger.

At about 4 pm, Jim's parents had arrived at the hospital. We had caught them up on what was going on. At 4:15, the doctor came in and said that everything was still the same and that we were going to have to do the c-section. I was very afraid at this point as I had never had any type of surgery before. Things started to move very quickly at this point. Jim called my mom and dad as they were still on the road and explained everything to them. Pete and Debby were back in the room and Jim was telling them what was going on. At this point, Pete and Debby went into the waiting room and everything just started happening. The anasteologist came back in and started giving me more medicine to really numb me up. I was competely numb from my toes to my chest. What a wierd feeling that was. Once everything was done, they wheeled me down the hall into the OR. They made Jim wait outside until everything was ready. I wanted him next to me so bad, but i knew it wouldn't be long. They transferred me from one bed to the other, put the curtain up and there was a lot of other things going on. I was starting to freak out a bit and was asking when Jim was coming and then I heard his voice saying I coming and I'll be right there.

A few minutes later the doctor asked if I could feel anything and I said no, and he said good because I am starting to cut. A few mintues later, they told Jim to look over the curtain as they were pulling the baby out. I heard a cry and the doctor said Jim what do we have. Jim said, "WE have a little GIRL". I said, "what, a girl. No way. Everyone thought it was a boy." It was the greatest feeling in the world. Jim was sitting next to me with Samantha Lynn, so was beautiful and so peaceful. The nurses took Samantha from Jim as they were stiching me up so they could get all of her vitals and stuff like that. Once everything was done, they wheeled me back into my room and the nurse went and got Pete and Debby out of the waiting room. They came in and Jim was holding Samantha. We asked them what they thought it was and Debby shouted "BOY!!!", I said no...its a girl...meet Samantha Lynn. I then called my mom and dad since they were still driving. Mom answered the phone and I told her that we had a little girl. She was shocked b/c she was convinced it was a boy! I heard everyone screaming in the background. They were all so surprised! Once I got off the phone with my mom and dad, Jim came by me with Samantha. I didn't want to hold her yet because I was very shaky, plus I was still very numb and I didn't want to drop her.

As I was recovering, the nurses again took Samantha into the Nursery to get her all situated and then they brought me to the post partum room for my remainder of my stay. As I got situated in my room, they brought Samantha back to me and with that, My mom, dad and Jeff got to the hospital. What an incredible feeling to have everyone around us with her. Everyone stayed with us in the hospital until about midnight and then everyone left to go to the hotel and it was Jim, Samantha and myself for a little while until the nurses took Samantha back to the nursery for the night and Jim left to go to the hotel.

Samantha you are our little miracle baby. We found out we were pregnant with you at 20 weeks and you came to us at 38 weeks. You have been nothing but surprises from the beginning. Only God knows what other little surprises are in store for us. We can't wait to see what those surprises are. We love you so much.