The story of Addy (AKA--Lack of Sleep)

About a year ago this month we found out we were pregnant with Addison. We were actually about to leave for Florida for Glory Basketball. Unfortunately I would not be able to go on any rides once we got there.

From the get go I was really sick for the first 20 weeks. I was unable to keep any food down and was just nauseated all the time. At about 12 weeks I had a complication that caused me to bleed quite a bit. Ben brought me to the emergency room under the assumption we had just lost Addison. However, when we got there and the doctors ran tests...Addison was still in there; healthy as can be.

After many ultrasounds we found out I had been pregnant with twins but did not know it yet as it was early into the pregnancy. They found two placentas and later at my delivery would find out I had two water bags. It was so sad to hear that we lost one but we were so thankful that we still had our little girl (at that point we didn't know it was a girl yet).

As my pregnancy progressed I was was working about 50 hours a week at work and came home exhausted every night. It was very difficult. I got to the point where I was only sleeping about 2 hours a night as I am sure most pregnant women understand.

Ben was such a huge blessing my whole pregnancy as he pretty much did everything around the house for the whole 9 months since I was so sick and tired. This really was so great.

Well, we began to roll into the month of March, my last month and I was getting so big and feeling so miserable. On March 15, my cousin Molly (who was pregnant at the same time as me)went into early labor. I was thinking, wouldn't it be funny if I went around the same time...

So March 16 arrived, I went to work and then came home... Ben made dinner and then we laid in bed. Ben proceeded to say to me "Katie, we need a plan for if your water breaks." I of course was already packed for the hospital so we discussed what we would do and who to call. Ben went on to say that it sure would be fun for me to go that night because then he could have the start of March Madness off from work so he could watch the opening rounds of basketball.

Well, his wish came true. Shortly after our conversation I turned to him and said, "Ben you are not going to believe this but my water just broke." We started laughing as we couldn't believe after just planning for it that I went into labor. We called our parents right away and then the hospital to let me them know we were coming in.

We arrived at the hospital at 10:30pm March 16, 2010. This was about two weeks early; my due date was March 27. They checked us in, got us in a labor room. I was only about 3 cm dilated when I came in to the hospital. To spare you all the details. I ended up having a 20 hour labor and then I was rushed into a emergency C-section. Unfortunately, after having the C-section the doctor indicated going forward that I can't ever have a natural birth due to some complications. We were just so thankful that our Addison Rose arrived safely...thanks to the advisement of Ben's dad. (who if you didn't know is a neonatologist: baby doctor).

Well, so began parenthood. As most mom's know going forward it is tough the first few weeks. I had a rough go about it with healing from the C-section and having a colicky baby. Addison starting at about 2 weeks until about 2 1/2 months had colick really bad. She was awake screaming from 11pm-7am every night. I was maybe sleeping 2 hours a day for those 2 months. We took her to the doctor as we had no idea what was going on. They limited my diet for nursing to see if she was allergic to anything I was eating and nothing got better.

Finally, after prayerful consideration and many tears we determined Addy was probably allergic to my breast milk. The doctor put Addison on some special formula to help with a sensitive baby and this did the trick. I felt so disappointed as a mom that I could not feed her what comes natural to us mom's but at this point we wanted to do what was best for her health.

So needless to say, I started getting more sleep. Gradually things have become so much better and our little Addison Rose is growing into a beautiful little girl. She is almost 4 1/2 months now. She smiles and laughs a lot. She also just rolled over for the first time the other day. She was so proud to show daddy this when he got home from work.

I do have to say, motherhood and pregnancy is not an easy thing. And for my first pregnancy, lets just say it was an interesting experience. There were a lot of hard times, sleepless nights and times I just didn't think things were going to get better. However, during those nights...I called on Jesus and he was ALWAYS there with me. I also had wonderful encouragement from my husband, parents, and other family members and friends

So this is our story of little Addison Rose. She is our St. Paddy's day baby. She is a miracle; she is our little angel.