First things first

Aaron and I were married April 28, 2007. We took our 1st anniversary trip to Corpus Christi with our new boat. During the trip, I started to feel strangely queasy (even off the boat). That next Friday May 2 before work, I decided "just to be sure" and took a pregnancy test. I hopped in the shower while it was "processing". When I got out to check it, I realized there were 2 pink lines instead of just one. Aaron was still lying in bed. I stood over him, just staring, unable to say anything. Finally I muttered that there were 2 pink lines. He just started grinning. We went to the doctor a few hours later and they confirmed the news: We were PREGNANT!
We got in with a great OB, Dr Valdez at St. Luke's Baptist in San Antonio. We saw him mid-May and had a sonogram to confirm how many weeks along we were, 7 weeks at the time of the sonogram. The sonographer couldn't answer any questions but she did answer when I asked if there was only 1 beating heart. At that time the baby just looked like a little smudge with a little heart thumping away. Our due date was then set at December 31st!
We spent my birthday which fell over Memorial Day weekend at Brady, it was different the original plan I had but it was great! We then experienced a few rough patches. As time went on my nausea increased. I was unable to return to work in early June. Two trips to the hospital for dehydration, one ruining Aaron's fishing trip. I ended up being put on a Zofran pump to help keep the nausea under control, it lasted for about 5 weeks. At the end of June, Dr. Valdez's office completed their screening which included a screening for Down's Syndrome. We had a scare, had to see a neonatologist, ran the test again, then realized Dr. Valdez's office had sent off the wrong due date. The baby was growing just like it was suppose to.
That scare happened when we were about 14 weeks along. The neonatologist did another sonogram and we were able to see what appeared to be a beautiful little GIRL!
We had a checkup with the neonatologist during week 19. It was confirmed that we were having a beautiful healthy baby girl! With long toes :)
As the baby continued to grow, Aaron and I decided on a name: Raelye Katherine. Raelye encompasses both of our grandfathers' names who passed away too soon. Katherine is Aaron's mom's name.
We moved from San Antonio to Jarrell in September. I transfered doctors to Scott & White Hospital in Temple with Dr. Huddleston.
We had two beautiful baby showers (Snyder & Rowena) and one very fun tailgating Aggie baby shower. We had a couple of false alarms then talked to the dr about inducing to guarantee Raelye would make her appearance by the end of the year.
On our 39th week appointment which was on Christmas Eve, we all came to the conclusion to induce on December 29th as Dr. Huddleston would be oncall that night to make sure everything went smoothly. Aaron and I were very excited and anxious. We had one last date night at County Seat in Georgetown the Saturday before.
Monday December 29th we arrived at Scott & White at 7 a.m. Raelye looked good on the monitor but I hadn't made any progress except Raelye's station was already really low. Each doctor and nurse we saw that day gave us an expectation that Raelye would be 7-7 1/2 lbs. They started feeding me the meds at about 8 and hooked me up to an iv to keep me hydrated, I could drink but wasn't allowed to eat. The meds slowly started to dialate my cervix but it took a while. I had really bad back labor and was given meds to help me rest and sleep through it. The regular contractions were nothing! It was just my back that felt awful. At about 3, my water broke. We were for sure having a baby now! (They could have sent us home technically if the induction wasn't working well.) They started the epidural after my water broke which took care of the back labor but I still had a hard time getting comfortable. It was a strange feeling not being able to move my legs. I hit the transition stage about 11-12 that night. I definetly knew things were different then. I had dialated to an 8 and they expected me to start pushing in just a few hours. I had also started running a fever so Raelye & I would have to stay in the hospital for 2 days instead of just 1.
We started pushing somewhere around 3 a.m. I was full of energy and excited to get things moving. I pushed at every contraction with Aaron helping me but Raelye wasn't descending as far as she should have been. The doctors then realized that she was turned the wrong direction and even though they tried to turn her she kept turning back the other direction. About 4:30 (1.5 hours pushing) Dr. Huddleston suggested we try forceps to help Raelye along. At the same time, the nurse realized my epidural was running dry.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave me a shot directly into the epidural to keep things numb for the next little bit. Problem was that the medicine hit at the same time a contraction hit, this sent the medication up in my body instead of down into my hips & legs. I started feeling like I couldn't breathe and was unable to move my arms. The dr was trying to get me to push but I felt like I was in a bubble then. I wasn't able to get a breath so I couldn't push. Raelye was pulled by the forceps and born officially at 5:08 a.m.
Raelye Katherine Hoelscher
Born December 30 2008 at 5:08 a.m.
8 lbs 13 oz and 19 in long
Raelye was bigger than anyone expected! She was beautiful and healthy. Aaron went out to tell my mom, Bob, Kay, & Ronnie the news. He also sent them after Whataburger as I was starving! We moved to postpartum between 8 & 9 where we spent our next two days getting to know each other. I had some difficulties and she had to undergo extra testing since she was such a chunk! But after two days in we had both progressed. She was raising up her head and already letting us clearly know what she wanted and didn't.
We spent New Year's Eve in the hospital. Aaron went to HEB to arrange us a special evening in the hospital. He brought back Chinese food, sushi, bread, cheese & wine. It was an amazing evening!
We came home on Jan 1 2009 and started adjusting to life as a family. There have been very difficult & challenging times as we are learning what she wants and needs but its absolutely amazing. Its the best yet hardest jobs we've ever had.
I'm going to try to write on here often as so much has already happened over the past 3 weeks. I'm going to end this here and write more about what's happened since we've been home on the next one. Til then~