TOOTING

Just have to share an email from my Uncle Gary to my mom. Pretty cool. I am a very proud Niece!

Gary:

I forgot to tell you; last week during our inspection outbrief I was called to the stage of the base theater in front of thousands of people at the theater and on closed circuit TV across the base, to receive the award as the Top Performer for the inspection...out of 22,000 people!!! What an honor that was...AND how embarrassing!!!! The inspector general said they only give out one coin for every two or three inspections they do every year. My nuclear certified equipment program was named the best in the Air Force Materiel Command. Cool eh?

Mom:

OMG! how cool is that??????? That is so awesome, you better tell Mom!I just can't get over how ambitious and awesome you are at your job!22,000 people????? Congratulations, Gar...about the time I'm so proudof you I could burst, you do something else! WOW!

Gary:

Thank you, T. It would have been awesome just to pass the inspection of my program; I never expected this. And the good part: that was the last major inspection I have to go through before retiring next year. We passed our weapons safety program management evaluation by headquarters last spring with zero discrepancies (first time ever for this base). It was neat because when they hired me into this position last year there were a lot of people (including HQ) questioning why I was selected after being out of weapons safety for ten years. It's good motivation when people say you can't do something! "Hide and watch, beotch!"

Coming out the other end?

The day my world changed!!!

It all started on Sunday Aug 29th at 5:30am. I was enjoying an episode of Three's Company when it all started. The contractions felt like the worst cramps I have ever had. I decided to wait and time the contractions prior to waking Dustin (he's a bit grumpy when woken up)! The contractions were anywhere from 3-6 minutes apart and that lasted for an hour. At that time I decided to wake Mr D up. I rushed around the house, stopping every three minutes to double over, packing my hospital bag and then the race began! Dustin was flying down the freeway like he was in the Indi 500! We decided to take the picture below, thinking it would be the morning our little Kennedy would arrive!

Once we arrived at the hospital they quickly put us in the "observation room". I knew at that time that they would probably send us home! The doctor came in and informed me that I wasn't experiencing "true" labor. What in the world was it then? It felt like a little monkey doing tricks in my tummy! They then sent us home with the instructions that if they got worse and were 2 minutes apart then we needed to come in. GRRR!

Because I had been up all night, I knew I needed to get some sleep (especially if I was going to end up in "true" labor)! That's when the problems arose! I tried everything to go to sleep! Benedryl , Tylenol Pm, nothing seemed to work! I was in too much pain to sleep. I then decided that enough was enough and that I was going in to the hospital and STAYING! I called the hospital and informed them of my decision.

Once we got back to the hospital they admitted us and put us in a real room! We were not leaving the hospital with out Kennedy! It was now 11:30pm Sunday night. Phew what a long painful day! I finally was given some Morphine for the pain and around the same time I received my epidural. Life was now good!

Around 1am Monday morning we decided to call our moms. They both crawled out of bed and headed down to the hospital.

It was now 6:30am Monday morning and with Dustin sleeping face down on the recliner next to me, I quickly feel a huge amount of pressure in my "southern region". It was time! I informed the nurse that I was feeling that pressure and she decided that she would check me. I was a 10! HOLY CRAP! The nurse told me not to push and that they had to call the doctor. How in the world do you NOT PUSH?!? It took 45 minutes for the doctor to come and right before she entered the room the NOT PUSHING got to me so much that I had to vomit! It was almost like Kennedy was going to come out the other end!

Then all of a sudden, Dr Alexandra Eller walked into the room! HALLELUJAH! I don't remember much about the staff getting the room ready, I just remember being so thankful that the doctor was finally in the room! Dr Eller made the whole experience wonderful. It was actually kind of relaxing (remember that I had the epidural though)! A few sets of pushes and POW....Kennedy was here! My life at that point had a new meaning! She was my life! She is my life! What a life changing moment! Miss Kennedy Francis came in weighing 6lbs 6oz and 191/2 inches long. She was born at 7:13am on Monday August 30 2010!