It all still feels so surreal. The day we have waited for was finally here. I don't know as if I absolutely believed it would be this early, but hey, I'll take what I get. Thursday morning I started having contractions. But I didn't put much stock into that fact. I had already had a previous trip to the hospital with contractions that quit as soon as they put me in the triage room. Yeah, got sent home that time! So I thought, here we go again. I was so determined that I wasn't going to go to the hospital if I was just having contractions. I was determined that my water would break this time before getting to the hospital! So I went about my day as usual.
My morning: I went to the store, dropped off my wedding ring for cleaning, and then took a nap. By the time I got home from the store I was wiped. And I knew the time was getting closer. Contractions were starting to hurt more and I just had this overall icky feeling.
My afternoon: John was supposed to drop off his ring for cleaning and pick mine up. He didn't. Contractions were closer together, but I still didn't think it would be such a big deal. I still thought I was having a repeat of what we went through last weekend. I did not want to be sent home again. So when John went to school, I thought we still had lots of time.
3:00 rolls around and I am waiting for the kids to get out of school. It was my turn to pick up the carpool kids. At this point I was unsure of how much longer we had because contractions were not letting up. I found myself unable or unwilling to move. Luckily I didn't have to get out of the car to help any of the kids! I got the kids home, stopped at home to get Amber's booster seat (yeah, didn't have it earlier when I picked her up), and then drove to the jewelry store to pick up my newly cleaned and spruced up wedding ring! Ugh, I felt horrible. I told Amber I wasn't feeling well and she needed to help me out. I found myself approaching a red light when contraction hit. I was lucky to get the car stopped. But I made it home. That was about 4:00 p.m.
I got inside and I knew it wasn't going to be much longer but I hoped I could wait until John got out of class at 8 p.m. Yeah, he was at least 1/2 hour away at this point. My worst fear was being realized. John would be at school and it would take too long for him to get home. I sent him a text message that he needed to get home right away. And then everything just happened in a blur.
So John took an hour and a half to get home after I told him he needed to get home. While I was waiting for him, Amber was so helpful. She helped me get a bag packed for the kids since they needed to go to my dad's house for the night! Ummm, that was on my list of things to get done this week. I just hadn't had the time or the real desire to pack a bag. I knew if I packed my kids bag, it would be unpacked real quick when we ran out of clothes for the kids! So Amber was packing the bag and not complaining. Then she gave me a hug and said "I hope you feel better soon, mommy." What a melt my heart moment.
When John got home I told him to take the kids and then come back for me. I really didn't want to be in the car that long. Okay, my dad really only lives down the street from me, so it wasn't a big deal. I was so mad that I let him go to school that afternoon! All I could think about was, this baby is going to come in the car if we don't get there now! And of course, we were in rush hour traffic on Bangerter Highway. The hospital is only 15 minutes away in light traffic. Yeah, it took us half an hour to get there. I could barely get inside, the pain was so awful. Side note: I am a wimp. Pain and me do not mix. I stopped in the hallway and practically yelled at John to just go check me in. I could not move. I did not want to move. The nurses took one look at me and skipped triage altogether. We went right to the delivery room.
Epidural? Oh my yes. I wanted to be brave, but I couldn't. I needed that pain relief to get through this. Plus, I thought it would be a few hours still. An immediate epidural eased the pain and helped me relax a bit. Yay for pain meds. Did I mention that I am a wimp when it comes to pain?
I was admitted at 7 p.m. At 8:04 I delivered a healthy baby boy! He was 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.
It is still surreal, even after 4 days! We are so happy to have our little boy here.
Another side note here: I haven't figured out the camera yet so I have pictures, but haven't put them on the computer. Hopefully soon. But it really isn't my top priority right now. We'll see how the week goes. Or maybe the next, or the next.
