Jewelry Shop: Guest Blogger - The "Sometimes Single" Mom

I found out on January 9th, 2009 that I was pregnant with my daughter. That was just 2 months after the hubs had come back from Iraq. We had conceived while on block leave in California visiting his family. The day we left to come back to Germany, my mother-in-law looked at me and said, "You're pregnant and it's a girl." Me thinking my mother-in-law is a total loon, I shrugged it off.

The hubs came back to Germany. The hubs had to start going back to work. The night of the Welcome Home Ball I asked the hubs to run to the commissary for a pregnancy test. He grumbled for a minute and went and got one. He dropped it off and went to the gas station to fill up the car. He comes home and the test is positive.

We found out Gracelynn was a girl when I was about 15 weeks. German doctors do a sonogram at every appointment. Watching my little bean grow each month was amazing. I always got so excited when I saw her on the screen. When I was about 11 weeks, I could see she was pretty big. I asked the doctor if he could kind of tell what she was... and he told me "I can't see, it's legs are crossed and it might be a little early to get a good look at the baby's parts." Hm. Ok.

I went back about 3 weeks later for another check up, blood work, exam and sonogram. The Germans also do an exam, urine and blood test at most appointments. I asked again, and he said, "the baby's legs are crossed and I can't see." Bummer.

After another 3 weeks I went back for another appointment. Urine test, blood test, exam, sonogram... in that order. I ask the doctor again if he could see and finally we got a "The baby is a girl." I was so happy. Zack, my husband, gives me the stink eye. We were on our way back from Sulzbach (the doctor's office is in the hospital) and Zack looks over and says, "I'm going to own a gun by the time she's 5." Really? I think that's a little soon, honey.

Not long after we found out baby was a girl, I was randomly checking Zack's AKO account to see if we would have PCS orders... well there was no PCS orders in there. There were orders for him to go to BNONC from 25 August 09 until 27 September 09. I was due September 16th. CRAP!

As we all know being married to the military, plans change, orders come up and it is guaranteed that Murphy will get you when you least expect it.

He looked into getting the school moved to another time, but since these orders came down from the Department of the Army, and it wasn't requested by his unit to go, it would be very difficult to get him out of that school in order for him to be here when I had the baby. We just decided that we wouldn't even bother trying to change the dates for the school. I would either stay here in Germany and have the baby or I'd fly to the states. I stayed in Germany because the thought of not being able to get back to Germany immediately after the birth just didn't sit well.

My stepmother, her mother (I have called her Gigi my whole life... ok well since I was 1) flew to Germany. About a week after Zack left for school. Having them here at the very end was awesome.

I was induced on September 7th. My stepmom and Gigi were only here for 2 weeks and I had to have her while someone was here to keep Noah while I was in the hospital. I spent all day hooked up to a Pitosin drip. I had some pretty regular contractions and wasn't too uncomfortable. After they took me off the Pitosin drip my contractions weren't as regular and not as bad. So I was given a tablet that would most definitely put me into labor. September 9th I woke up, ate breakfast and then was hooked back up to a pitosin drip. After about 3 hours I was taken off the pitosin drip, my water broke and I was sitting in a German hospital praying she would make her appearance that day. By 11 am I was sitting in the bath tub. A friend of mine gave me her hypnobabies discs and I put them on my iPod so I could listen to that and focus. I was hell bent on having a natural birth.

About 1 in the afternoon I decided to get out of the tub and go back to the bed. That, I think was a mistake. The water helped make the contractions lighter and not nearly as bad. I lost my focus and left my "happy place." And then I got the epidural. About 45 minutes, maybe an hour, after I got the epidural I told the nurse I needed to use the restroom... the look on her face was classic! (I just asked my stepmom to go downstairs and use the public computer to sign me into class so I didn't get kicked out) She had checked me just after the epidural was in and I wasn't dilated very much. She checked me again after I told her I needed to go to the bathroom, and she said that I didn't need to use the bathroom... I needed to deliver a baby!

My daughter, Gracelynn Olive Addison was born on September 9th, 2009. Just after she was born my stepmom walked back in. Imagine her surprise to come back to L&D to a new grand baby! She took a picture with Zack's phone of me and Gracelynn and I e-mailed it to Zack right then. I called him in the middle of class ... And he saw his daughter just after she was born.

He didn't get to meet his daughter until she was 2 weeks old. And the look on his face when he saw her for the first time, I knew she had him wrapped right around her finger.