It was Thursday night and Jacob was putting up a shelf in the kitchen. We'd gotten a lot of the little repairs on our place done by that point (except the ones in our bedroom) and so we were beginning to feel more relaxed about the baby coming.
I wasn't in a really good mood. But since Jacob was using his time so annoyingly well I decided to finish up some painting which I had put off for about two weeks. So I painted and grumbled about how I was so ready to be done with all this house stuff and I just wanted the baby to come.
I woke up four hours later, at 1:30 in the morning on Friday, June 3rd feeling like I was going into labor. I went to the bathroom, and then I went and lay back down in my bed wondering if I should wake up Jacob.
From all the birth stories I'd read and heard, I knew it would be best for Jacob to be rested. And since my contractions were still really mild--as in, almost undetectable--there was no real urgency.
And I liked lying in the quiet. I liked being the only one who knew. I was so excited to be going into labor, so grateful that my body was doing what it was supposed to. I would close my eyes during the contractions praying that they were the beginning of the real thing.
So I let him sleep.
For about 5 minutes.
Then I woke him up, told him, and we started...giggling. We eventually calmed down enough to sleep and I slept until 7:30 waking up periodically during contractions.
Then I called my mother. Her phone was off, and I remembered that she and the family were leaving that day for my cousin's wedding in Rhode Island. So I called my dad hoping that they hadn't already departed. I was totally relieved when I heard his familiar voice answer the phone.
They were in Chicago on a layover.
So I told him what I'd observed during the night. (At this point it helps to know that my parents are both doctors...) and he asked me some pointed questions.
Meanwhile, my mother is listening to my dad and growing increasingly anxious. She'd had every intention of making it for the birth of her first grandchild. Her flight home from Rhode Island landed her at LAX on Monday where she was going to come to my house and sit tight until the little tike came out. But to her dismay the baby was jumping the gun by a couple days.
After a couple minutes, my dad tells me he's going to hand the phone to my mother, and I think that's a great idea. I couldn't wait to tell her and talk to her about what I was experiencing. I couldn't wait for her reassuring voice and Dr. Mom wisdom.
But I wasn't to get any of that.
My mom came on the phone, and I gushed for about 10 seconds, as she attempted to get off the phone, repeating in a tense monotone: "Uhuh. Ok. Well. Ok. Honey, I'm gonna go."
And that was that. She was gone.
I laughed and turned to Jacob and told him that my mother was bee-lining to a ticket counter.
So we got up. I whipped out my contraction-timing iPhone app, ate a big breakfast, bought a delinquent wedding gift, swept the porch, called my long-time friend Ruthie who was gonna come up from Orange Country for the birth, went for a walk, folded clothes.
My excitement about labor continued and the contractions were slowly becoming more consistent. A couple times they stopped completely for an hour or so, and I would start pouting.
We soon heard from my mother that she had rerouted to LA. (Originally the woman at the ticket counter told her it would cost 450$ to change her itinerary, but since this was an unusual situation she went to get a supervisor. The supervisor clicked around on the computer and told my mother she could put her on a flight that would have her in LA by 2:30pm at no extra charge. My mom said the supervisor looked like a grandmother.) Ruthie arrived around 2pm and Jacob left to run some errands and pick up my mother. The contractions were getting stronger by this point.
My mother and Jacob got back around 5pm, and my mom decided to check me to see how dilated I was. (Before going into labor I never imagined I would've been comfortable with this...but for that matter a lot went on that I never imagined I would've been comfortable with...) She didn't want to break my water so she couldn't be really accurate but she thought I was at least 4 cm. So off we went to the hospital.
To be continued...(Read part two here)
In other news Aunt Kathleen arrived yesterday from Dallas!
Hope all is well!
