One Year Ago Today

One year ago today I was in a lot of pain. Some time in the night I had taken Tylenol PM to help me sleep. Later, I used a bengay-type topical ointment on my stomach. That night I slept soundly for about three hours. The rest of the night I laid on my stomach in strange half on the bed-half off positions.

I spent the morning between my bed and the bathroom - I thought I was constipated. Somewhere in my head I knew that if I pushed, the baby would come out. (The baby wasn't due until Sunday. Today was Tuesday. It wasn't supposed to come today.) So I didn't push.

I called my sister-in-law and as usual left a message. On each breath out I could say a word. Maybe two if they were short. It went something like this: Hi. (pause) Could (breathe, breathe) youplease (pause) comeand (breathe, breathe) getJack? (pause, breathe) And (breathe, breathe) could (pause) youplease (pause) bringsome (breathe, breathe) Metamucil (breathe, breathe) or something? (pause) Thanks."

Every time I was checked within the previous six weeks or so I had braxton-hicks for a while that evening.
I swore it was braxton-hicks.
It wasn't.

I finally called Joseph around 11:40 a.m. after his second class was over. I said, "I think I'd like to go to the hospital now."
I had learned, in the course of the morning, that if I kneaded my lower back with my fists, it helped to ease the pain.
When Joseph got home it took me ten minutes to get to the car. I stopped five times on the way to the car - about every five steps. Joseph had to rub my back every time I stopped so that I could keep walking.
Luckily the hospital is exactly two minutes away in traffic. (Okay, so Cedar City doesn't really have "traffic" - just other cars on the road.)

Here's the punch line. When Joseph wheeled me in to Labor and Delivery I said "I'd like a stool softener and maybe some painkiller. Tylenol or something. And could you just monitor me for a few minutes to see if I'm okay?"

The evening before (on the 8th) I was dilated to only a 2+. This morning when the nurse checked me I was a 9+.
She said, "I'm going to call your doctor."
I thought, "Okay, but I don't know what she's going to do. The baby isn't due until Sunday."

They didn't even have time to check me in. My doctor arrived within 10 minutes. And Katherine Anastasia Elizabeth arrived at 11:57 a.m. on January 9th, 2008.

Here's a picture of Ana at 3 days old and a picture of Ana now. In the photo where she's eating you can see her 3 (almost 4) teeth.