"Labor Day"

I want to write all of this down so that I'll remember how the whole labor process went down. I may do it in a series of posts though so that it doesn't take forever... and also, with a newborn I'm realizing I don't have quite as much time to organize my thoughts. For most of you, you will not care about most of this, as I want to include every single detail or how it all unfolded so that I won't forget.


So, on Friday, June 17, I woke up that morning and noticed that I was leaking a little more than normal that morning. Since I had been having issues all week, and had been to the doctor several times, I figured this was nothing out of the ordinary and was just a part of pregnancy. I was actually very anxious that day worrying about labor in general and the decision of when/if to be induced, as you can tell by my previous post. As the day went on, I continued to noticed a little more leaking of fluid, but it wasn't really constant or a big gush. There were a couple of times that I did have to change bottoms, but still nothing major.

I had planned on going to get something for lunch that day but a huge storm started right about lunchtime. I decided to wait until it was over to go, but by then it was 2:30 in the afternoon and Ben and I had made plans to go out to dinner that night, so I really didn't want to eat a big lunch and ruin my appetite. I settled for making some instant mashed potatoes and just eating those. haha Delicious sounding, huh? I pretty much spent the rest of the day just watching tv, napping, and being pretty lazy.

Around 4 o'clock, I decided I needed to get out of the house so I went to a little store down in Homewood to look around. As I was paying for something, I noticed again that I had a big leak and needed to go home and change, but it still wasn't HORRIBLE. I called my mom on the way home and told her that I was wondering if my water was breaking, but that I really didn't know because it wasn't consistent. She of course started freaking out and said "No I bet thats it, we are just going to come down there now. Even if its not it, we will make a weekend out of it." I kept telling her not to freak out that I really didn't think it was anything, and I didn't want her to make a big deal out of it. However, she did and called both my sister and grandmother, to which my sister also responded "well I'm going ahead and coming too." haha I had called Ben before all of this as he was at work and told him to hurry home because I was unsure whether my water was breaking or not. When he got home, he talked me in to calling the doctor to just ask questions. Of course the doctors response was "Theres no way to know without you coming in. Why don't you just come let us check you?"

I at this point still did not think this was the real thing, but just in case it was, I decided I needed to take a shower haha. So, while getting ready I was in the process of calling my sister to tell her not to come because I rreally didn't think it was anything because nothing else was leaking. While on the phone, I had another big gush... but I was trying to justify it. I kept saying "Well maybe I just dont have the muscles to hold my bladder anymore, I've heard that happens." But, we went on to the hospital. On the way, Ben said "Should we get fast food just in case?" I responded "No, I really dont think this is it and I'd rather eat at a restaurant after."

When we got to the hospital, I still felt a little ridiculous because it wasn't consistently coming out and was never like a HUGE gush like you see on all of the movies. They did a test where a little stick was suppose to turn blue if my water had in fact broken. Just the tip of it turned blue since there wasn't a whole lot of fluid still coming out as it had just happened at home, so the nurse said she couldn't say it was definitive but didnt want to send me home yet and wanted to watch me for a little while. They came back in and told me to get up and walk around and see if I had another gush. All I had to do was move my leg and I said "Well some just came out." She tested it, and said "It has definitely broken! You are having a baby tonight!"

Ahh!! I was sooo excited and shocked! My first response was, "Wait, can I leave and go get something to eat? All I've had was mashed potatoes" haha Unfortunately, they said I wasn't allowed to eat and all I could have was ice chips until after the baby was born. Eek! I didn't really care though because I was just thrilled that this was the moment I had been waiting for for so long.

My mom and dad had just gotten to Birmingham, and were waiting in the hospital parking deck to hear whether it was in fact the real thing or not. They had wanted to come in earlier, but I refused to let them because I didn't want to be that girl that had her whole family there for a false alarm. I called and told them the news and they rushed inside. My sister and her family followed behind, and later my grandparents, Ben's family, and my brothers family along with my good friend Erin, all came to wait on precious Baby A. We continued spreading the news and were so excited that our baby girl was just about to enter the world...

To Be Continued...