One year ago today
some unexpected events occurred. I basically almost had a baby.
I blogged about Baby
Parker’s birth story but in the wake of new motherhood I didn’t blog about the details leading up to his birth.
Every mommy carries
a unique birth story. For some it’s a normal labor and delivery and two days
later they are home, for others it’s a story of the journey to get pregnant, or
maybe a story of adoption, surrogacy, or in vitro. For us the story starts
unexpectedly the day before Parker was born. (And it doesn’t end until two
weeks after his birth but we’ll save that
part for another day.)
On May 11, 2012
unexpected events were set in motion and our little baby boy was going to be
born five and a half weeks early.
May 11 was a Friday.
I had a few Braxton Hicks contractions that day. Nothing major. Nothing out of
the ordinary.
Until… they didn’t
go away. Between three and five o’clock that afternoon I noticed they started
coming on a bit stronger and a bit more regular.
Honey and I had a
date night planned that evening. We were soaking up our last few weeks of “just
us”. Exactly one week earlier, Honey had returned from a month long work trip.
He returned the weekend we had company in town (for a baby shower) so we were
overdue for a weekend date night!
Honey came home from
work early and took a nap. When he woke up and realized that I didn’t wake him
to get ready for our date, he was immediately alarmed. (Allowing him to sleep
and not get ready for our date? Not like me!)
He came to find me.
In the kitchen. Busying myself, trying to ignore these contractions that
wouldn’t go away.
I was a little
nervous. I was afraid that this wasn’t exactly normal.
I had already done
the drink-a-glass-of-cold-water-and-lie-down trick the nurse had told me a
while back. But the contractions were still there. Not strong by any means.
Just annoying enough to get the worry train moving along down the tracks.
Could this be labor?
But it’s too early! Why all the contractions? Is something wrong?
Honey and I sat on
the couch and started timing and recording the contractions. They were
consistently consistent. We called the on-call doctor. She told us to go to the
ER to get checked out.
We went ahead and
quickly packed bags. Since we were still just under six weeks from Parker’s due
date, hospital bags? Not packed. Car seat? Not purchased. Baby Showers? One
down, one to go. In other words, we were not ready!
One ER admission, a
few dilation checks, three shots of terbutaline, and one big pancake midnight
meal later the contractions had stopped and we were on our way home.
The doctor informed
us that true labor cannot be stopped. If this was real labor then they had
slowed it but I’d be back the next day. Since it was a bit early she thought it
was nothing and she’d see us back in six weeks or closer to our due date.
That was one year
ago today.
What we didn’t know
was that Parker was already on his way. We might have delayed his grand
entrance but not by much.
The very next day
the contractions hit me. Early in the morning. Strong, deep, painful
contractions. Parker would be born five and a half weeks early. We would spend
two weeks with him in the NICU. We would have our faith tested and our marriage
strengthened.
But we’ll save that
story for another day.
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