i have been meaning to do this for awhile and now that adam is 7 months old, it has occurred to me that i might forget it if i don't write it soon! i got this idea from a book someone gave me about being a rookie mom. so here goes...
i started my maternity leave on my birthday, september 11. i was due with baby adam on september 12, a friday. on my birthday, i went to the coast guard station to see eric, he was working. i took us takeout from panera and we ate outdoors. i had blackbean soup-- don't ask me why i remember that, but i do remember it was far too warm to be eating blackbean soup. after meeting him, i went to target and walked around shopping for....something. mainly, i wanted the walking. contractions randomly came and went, but nothing too alarming.
friday afternoon, eric and i went to see my midwife. at the appointment, 2pm, she told me that i was three centimeters dilated and 90% effaced. she said she'd be surprised if i didn't have the baby by monday. when she said that, i was internally very angry... i knew that by saying this, she'd cursed me and i'd be pregnant until halloween. regardless, as we left, she told me that if i didn't have the baby over the weekend to call her monday for an induction.
as we left the doctor's office, standing waiting for the elevator, i rubbed my belly and told eric i was having a contraction. he said- wouldn't that be funny? (it was my due date) yeah, really funny- i said. my sense of pregnancy humor was waning...
for some reason, i was STARVING (maybe b/c i was 9 months pregnant?) and eric took me to a bbq place near our house. i ordered a huge burger and lots of fries. it was raining outside. i had another contraction as we sat. i barely fit in the booth. i had another. at this point, eric said-- you better eat all that food b/c if you ARE having the baby, you might not eat again for awhile. i had another contraction. at this point, i pulled a pen out of my purse and we started writing the times down on a napkin. they were coming every 20-30 mins.... ever since we'd left the doctor's office...
after lunch, we went home and the contractions continued. i called my mom-- i don't want to alarm you- i said- but i have been having contractions ever 20-30 mins for a few hours. i don't think this is it tho. my mom said- no, i think this is it. i said- really? i dunno. tho it was my due date, i couldn't believe this was IT. i still didn't believe it was time, THE time, even when they told me to PUSH. but i am getting ahead of myself.
it didn't take me long, tho, to find out it was the real deal. in a very short amount of time, the contractions got so strong and painful that i was moaning in pain. i called my mom again only to find out that she and my dad were already on their way to our house. in between contractions, which by 8pm were coming about every 15-10 mins, i asked eric to vacuum (my parents were coming after all!), install the carseat, put our bag in the car. he also had school assignments for the next week, and now knowing that the baby was indeed coming, he needed to wrap up his school work. he worked on homework in between comforting me...
at some point, we walked to the grocery store to get ice cream bars. i ate one as we walked home. they were those strawberry shortcake bars. mmmmm. i stopped and had many contractions along the way and back. on the way back, our neighbors were on the porch and joked about us trying to walk the baby out. ha, little did they know how right they were... the next day, we'd be holding him in our arms...
around 9pm, i called the midwife on call at the hospital. she told me not to come to the hospital until my contractions were 3-5 mins apart. i immediately hated her and all but hung up on her.
no sleep. intense pain. i had a paper on my nightstand so i could write down the contraction times. eric slept beside me. i wished i could sleep, but no such luck. around midnight, i called the midwife again. my contractions were now about 7-5 mins apart. i'd been in labor now for 10 hours. the midwife said to me-- you haven't had a contraction while we've been on the phone just now. do you feel that you could kill someone? i thought-- what kind of question is this?! i would NEVER under any circumstances feel as tho i could kill someone! pain is so relative, how could she ask me this?! (oh man, i had no idea what kind of pain was to come...) i said aloud- no, i don't suppose so... she said- i don't want you to come yet b/c you're not ready and i don't want to have to send you back home. wait until they're 3-5 mins apart for an hour and then you can come in to the hospital. again, i all but hung up on her. i wanted to cry but didn't. eric turned off the car he'd already started. we went back to bed, him sleeping, me laboring and marking time.
already, the pain was incredibly intense. each time i moaned, eric would rub my belly or back or whatever he could reach with his sleepy hand across our bed. it's true what they say, i cannot pinpoint or completely describe the pain i felt. all i can clearly recall is that it DID hurt like hell. and, it was like a clamp... the pain built, built, built and when WHAM- YOWZA- contraction. then in a matter of 30 secs, it was gone again. over. immediately hard to imagine that just a few moments ago i'd been in that much pain... and before i knew it, building, building, building and WHAM. it was crazy. and lasted sooooooo long. by the time it was over, i labored for 31 hours.... and 26 of them without so much as a motrin.
but, more about the rest of it later.
(looking back, i am so glad eric slept that first night. b/c in the few days to come, when the baby cried at night and needed a diaper or swaddle, when i wanted a special meal, etc, eric was the one up all night, sleeping in a plastic chair, and taking care of two of us-- adam AND me. but we'll get to that next time...)
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