Violet's Birth Story: part 1

last picture pregnant: 39w4d
taken October 14, 2013

October 16, was a typical day of being nearly 40 weeks pregnant. 

Lily had preschool at the high school and then we hung out at home doing laundry and a little bit of cleaning. The baby clothes are neverending!   George was off from work.  He and I stayed up watching a couple of our shows together before he started doing some work on his computer while I finished working on Lily's Halloween costume.  I felt pretty good that night, commenting how I couldn't believe I was still pregnant, wondering when we were ever going to have this baby. I finally decided to go to bed a little after midnight.

I should have known that since she came into our lives surprisingly, she'd enter the world the same way.

October 17.

After sleeping pretty soundly, {given the weeks previously that I had been up every few hours} I was woken up around 6:00am, having some contractions.  Nothing too strong, nothing really timeable I'd say.  Just enough discomfort to stir me awake to look at the clock and see how much longer I had to sleep until it was time to get Andrew up for school.  45 more minutes.  Back to sleep I went... or tried.  I laid in bed for a few minutes then decided to check my email, and read through my Twitter timeline and maybe a game or two of Candy Crush hoping my eyes would get drowsy enough to go back to one of my last nights of decent sleep that I'd been having. 

I did manage to sleep a little bit longer before getting Andrew up to get ready for school. I laid on the couch half asleep, waiting until he left for the bus, all while having a couple more contractions.  I told him that I was having a few contractions and thought we'd end up at the hospital at some point today.  We made a plan for him for after school if no one was home and off he went. My first baby.

About 40 minutes, later it was time to get Lily up for school.  I started timing contractions finally about 8:15am.  They were anywhere from 6-8 minutes apart, sometimes 10, but still not too strong. I'd have to stop to catch my breath here or there, but was still able to walk, talk, get Lily out the door to school and drive.  When we got to preschool, I had one pretty strong contraction in the doorway where I did have to stop talking to her teacher a minute.  She asked me if I was ok to drive. I knew that I was, but also knew we'd for sure be heading to the hospital that day.  I kissed Lily goodbye, told her I loved her and off I went home...contracting just a little bit stronger.

When I got home, I woke George up to tell him that I had been having some contractions. When he asked how far apart they were, I said about 10 minutes or so and I was going to take a bath to relax some.  He came in a couple minutes later and asked if I had called the doctor's office yet. I had planned on it when I got out of the tub.  I sat back, closed my eyes relishing in the hot water that almost immediately relaxed me.  I kept my phone nearby to continue timing the contractions and had a couple more while I sat in the tub. George hollered in to ask me if I was ok a couple times. I told him he probably shouldn't head to his physical therapy appointment that was pretty soon.  He started gathering his things together for the hospital as I emerged from my blissful bath. I totally understand why people want to have waterbirths!

I immediately called my doctor's office and spoke with a nurse about when to head to the hospital. I explained that despite being a 3rd timer, 40 years old and capable, I had no idea when to actually head to the hospital with contractions. She asked how close they were currently and I explained 6-8 minutes mostly.  She told me that once they're 5 minutes for an hour, we should head to the hospital. Ok, easy enough.

Shortly after I was off the phone, our baby decided she was waiting no longer.  My contractions went from 6-8 minutes to 2 minutes apart just like that. 

It's funny the things you think you know about having a baby--especially when it's not your first time, but when it all comes down to it, there's much more reaction than anything.

My last timed contraction was at 10:26am. It was 2 minutes after the last one and lasted for 1 minute 17 seconds.

We live about 20-25 minutes away from the hospital...