Babies Pt 1

Two weeks before the arrival of our third child, I went into labor... that's right.

I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a while, and they were getting more intense, but one day they just kept coming. I kept track of them all day... 15 minutes apart... 10 minutes apart. We went about our normal business, taking care of our children and put our kids to bed. Alex and I sat up watching a movie, timing contractions, when we heard the unmistakable sound of vomit. We ended up spending most of the night cleaning up our son and changing sheets, while he fought the stomach flu. By 5 am, my contractions were 5 min apart and a minute long... time to head to the hospital. So we packed up our kids, and brought Micah a bucket.

I sat in the hospital for an hour or so while the nurses monitored my contractions. It seemed I was in labor, the contractions were real. But when they checked my cervix, there was no progress, which was not normal. Well, then I started vomitting. The low point was when they were putting an IV in my arm, WHILE I was having a painful contration, WHILE I was throwing up. It ranked in my top 10 worst experiences. Turns out, I was dehydrated by a virus I didn't even know I had, and that was what had caused my early labor. They pumped me full of fluids and antinausea meds, and sent me home.

For the next two weeks, I kept having contractions, some very painful. In the evenings, they would become frequent and I would start timing them, then by bedtime they would disperse. One Saturday, I had grown so huge I could hardly walk at all. I sat on my porch all day just waiting to go into labor. By evening, we needed to do something about food, so we went out with some friends for dinner. The whole time, I was having contractions that were painful and frequent. When we came home, Alex put the kids to bed while I lay down and started timing. As usual, the contractions dispersed, so we went to bed. As we lay in bed, I told Alex that I just couldn't shake the feeling that this baby was coming, but I was worried that if my water didn't break, I would never know if I was really in labor.

At 11:45, I was awakened by a painful contraction. Feeling tired and defeated, I latched onto Alex's arm and started whining, "I just want this to be over!"... then, "OH! My water broke!"

Alex responded quicker than most firemen, and within an hour, he had packed us all up, dropped the kids off at his mom's, and delivered me safely to the hospital (an amazing feat considering how far we live from the hospital). The contractions came fast and strong. This was my first experience going into labor without the help of pitocin, but it was every bit as brutal. It was not long, though, before I got my epidural and was able to rest a little and reflect on the baby that was about to arrive.

In addition to Alex, my mother and sister in-law were there, and of course my OB. Since they had all been there for my other two births, this was the third time this group had assembled for this purpose, and we were all very relaxed. Between pushes, we were all conversing and cracking jokes. It was a delightfully fun time.

Declan came into the world without any drama or difficulty. He was perfect. I was perfect. I could not believe how quickly it was all over, and how easy it had been. Our first week home together as a family of 5, was the happiest and most fun week of my life. When it was over, I wanted to go back and repeat it a few times. But life moves. Alex had to go back to work, and Declan has already outgrown his newborn clothes.

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