Feeling lost? Catch up here:
Sunday, November 15 (7 days from the due date) at 4:30am
Here I am, laying in bed with a dull back ache. At 39 weeks pregnant, I was no stranger to those annoying aches and pains in the last 6 weeks. I asked David if he thought this was it. Because we had no way of knowing, we went on with our day as usual.
Most weekends, David makes muffins and brings me breakfast in bed. After eating them, we decided that if this was the real thing, we should probably get some stuff checked off our to-do list. I cut his hair and did a few random chores around the house.
7:00am
Since my back felt crampy, it was a constant pain but then I felt what could have possibly been the first contraction. It was really hard to tell because it wasn’t very intense and was only slightly more painful than the cramps. We decided we should time these “contractions” and they were spread out at least 30 minutes for a couple of hours. {They’re called “contractions” because I really wasn’t sure if that’s what I was feeling.}
10:00am
When they show you videos at birthing class, it seems that taking a walk while you’re in labor is the thing to do… and since I couldn’t remember any of those darn breathing techniques and I did remember the walking thing, that seemed like a good idea. We walked extremely slow and only a few houses down the street before turning around. When we made it back to our driveway, I had the most intense “contraction” yet. This was the first time I allowed myself to think that these “contractions” could turn into real contractions {sans the quotation marks}.
11:00am
A little after 11, I called Mom and Dad and told them how I was feeling and Mom said, “Yep, I think you’re in labor.” I still wasn’t 100% convinced.
Hindsight is always 20/20, right? Looking back, I think I was afraid that I would mentally go to that place of we get to meet our daughter today! and then the contractions would stop and I would find out that it wasn’t labor after all. So I continued in my skepticism as the pain became more intense.
From the day I found out we had a little one on the way, I was convinced that I would deliver late. It just seemed like that’s what everyone did with their first baby. Plus, it’s much easier to assume you’ll go late and then end up going early than the other way around.
After talking to my parents, we called David’s parents and Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn didn’t answer. So I immediately called Andre’s phone. Kaitlyn answers: “ARE YOU IN LABOR?”
Ironic, because just one day earlier, our conversation had gone something like this:
Kaitlyn: “I’m just so worried that you’re going to go into labor and forget to tell me.”
Me: “Kaitlyn, don’t worry. I’ll call you,” I told her
K: “But it’s probably going to be chaotic and what if you forget?”
Me: “Then I’ll have Dave call you.”
I told her that I thought I might be but I wasn’t sure yet. {Looking back, I now realize that it was kind of ridiculous to still be in denial at this point, but I was.} I also told her not to come to town yet. They were walking into church so I said I’d text her if/when we left for the hospital.
At this point, we were still timing the contractions but they seemed to get as close as 5 minutes apart and then they would stretch back out. Sometimes stretched out as much as 15 minutes apart so that was disheartening.
1:00pm
We ate some leftovers for lunch and then called the hospital since it was Sunday and I couldn’t call my OB office. The hospital nurse basically blew us off, saying, “Oh no… with your first baby you don’t need to come until your contractions are 3 minutes apart for two straight hours. You need to go drink some water and if you think a warm bath will help, you can do that.”
Ok, remember how I was being all skeptical? Well, I had slowly started letting myself believe that I was in labor and then when she acted like this was all no big deal, I was pretty bummed. Because when your contractions are spacing out, that’s devastating news. One thing I do remember about the afternoon is that David seemed to always be MIA when a contraction would hit. He had been documenting the times but when I needed him, I always had to yell for him. Good thing we live in a small house.
He was busy loading the truck with our hospital bags, emailing his grad school professors and telling me, “Your sisters are here!”
“Here?! At our house?” *Insert wide-eyed emoji in between contractions here*
“Yep. In our living room.”
to be continued…
Continue to Ariana’s birth story | part 3
