Ten Years Ago

I can't even believe that ten years has passed already, but ten years ago I was waking up to a day that would end with the moment that changed my life forever.

My day started out just like most had for the past few weeks. I had left my job to prepare for the birth of my first child, and was now three days overdue and feeling pretty miserable. It was a Friday and I had a doctor's appointment on Monday that I was certain I would make. At that point I truly thought he was planning to stay inside forever! After work my (then) husband and I decided to go out to dinner. We were sitting at a stoplight when I felt a contraction. I'd been having pretty intense Braxton-Hicks contractions, but these felt different. They were less intense and not painful, but different. I didn't say anything, but I noted the time. We got to the restaurant, sat down, and I felt another one. I asked him how long it had been since the time I had the first one and he told me fourteen minutes. He got all excited when I told him what I'd felt, but I wasn't convinced. All through dinner, every fourteen minutes, there would be another one. When we were finished we went to another restaurant that we liked to hang out at. A lot of our friends were there and everyone was keeping up with the timing. Around ten we decided we should head home. My mother was there and she told me I should make sure my bag was packed and I was ready to go.

I truly thought the contractions would stop, but I did what she suggested. I went home, showered, finished packing my bag and timed a few more contractions. By the time I was ready for bed, they were eight minutes apart, but not at all painful. I went to bed and fell asleep easily. At 1am I felt a very distinct pop and sat straight up in bed. My water had broken! I ran to the bathroom with my husband fast on my heels. We both started laughing and he asked me what we should do. I told him the contractions had stopped, but that since the doctor told us to come to the hospital when my water broke, I thought we should go. We made a few calls to family, got our stuff and were on the way. No one had warned me that once your water breaks, it doesn't always stop. By the time we got to the hospital I was totally soaked from the waist down. We walked into the ER and the nurse actually said "Can I help you?". Um, really, ya think? So I told her I was pretty sure my water had broken and they sent me up to labor and delivery.

I was shocked to learn that I was only two centimeters dilated at that point. The labor wasn't horribly long, but I didn't have any pain medication and with each contraction his heartbeat would drop so the nurses were constantly moving me around to more uncomfortable positions and wouldn't let me be where I wanted to be. By the time I got to eight centimeters (yes 8, and no drugs yet) the doctor came in and said he wanted to do a c-section. It was now October 21st and just so happened to be my father-in-laws birthday. When we first told him my due date he said I was going to have him on his birthday. Turned out, he was going to be right.

So off to the OR we went. A very kind nurse had me lean against her and told me that I would feel a slight prick and then I would start to go numb. She barely had the words out before my butt and legs were totally numb. Then they laid me down, got everything ready and brought my husband in to sit with me at my head. My anesthesiologist was really nice and had me laughing the whole time. He would also tell my ex when he should look at what was happening. I felt a slight tug here and there and within a few minutes he was out. I remember seeing him for the first time being held up by the doctor and thinking he had a lot of blond hair. Turns out that was my imagination and my lack of being able to wear glasses or contacts in the OR. I got to see his little face briefly before they took him away.

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. I remember being very shaky and not really wanting to hold him for fear of dropping him. He was a champion nurser which was great but he never would let me put him down or let the nurses keep him in the nursery for very long. After four (ugh) days in the hospital we were finally going home. I was totally freaked out! I couldn't believe that they were letting us take him home by ourselves!! But we all survived.



Happy 10th Birthday Baby Duck!