Welcome, T.J.!

T.J. is three months and eleven days old today; thus, I think it is about time I share his birth story with you.  Ready??  ::crickets chirping::  Well... at least the crickets will read about it... I shall carry on then!!!

By about 37 weeks of pregnancy (when I was considered "full term"), I had mentally checked out of the pregnancy.  Even though most first-time pregnancies actually go past due, I was hoping that he would come early!  Crazy me!  Furthermore, I partially didn't want him to come until my parents came (right around New Years Eve).  Another interesting thing was that Lindsey and Ivan were going on a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on January 3rd and getting home on the 7th.  Then Lindsey was going to stay with us from the 8th till the 14th in hopes that she would be here for the birth.  That was unlikely considering the shortness of her visit and the unlikelyhood that T.J. would actually be born that close to his due date on the 12th.

I had an obstetrician appointment on Wednesday the 4th of January (...or maybe it was Friday the 6th?  Meh... can't remember now, but I know that it was not too many days prior to our P.F. Chang's experience- you'll read about that in a moment.)  Either way, that was the appointment where I found out that I was still only fingertip dilated (1/2 a centimeter) but thankfully 80% effaced (compared to 50% the last appointment).  I wasn't too happy about this; I really had wished I was further along.  Either way, that is when one of the midwives scheduled my induction for the Wednesday after my due date (the 18th of January).  I also had an appointment ON my due date- the 12th.

As the days dragged on, I was enjoying my sister's visit, but realizing that time was ticking for Lindsey to actually be there for the birth.  Truth be told, as we got closer and closer, I just tried to give up on the idea of Lindsey being there (Why set myself up for disappointment, right?).  =[  We kept walking and walking and walking, though (trying to "walk the baby out" if you will).  Truthfully... every walk turned into a "kick the pine cone" game- haha!  We kicked a stinkin' pine cone around for like 30-60 minutes!  One of the cheapest, most simple games- not gonna lie... it was a blast!  Poor pine cone... didn't even see it comin'...

Excitement hit on Monday the 9th!  My family went to PF Chang's for dinner, and at the table I began feeling my stomach firming up!  I didn't really feel it firm out from the inside, but i could feel it get firmer when I felt it on the outside.  It didn't hurt at all, so we didn't think too much about it.  However, then I noticed that the "firming" was coming every 15 minutes... consistently... hmmm...  Then, as we were walking to the car, I felt a firming that was a little "uncomfortable"... hmmm yet again.  That's when we all started to get really excited.  Thus, we went home and walked some more.  Once my "contractions" (AKA firming of my belly that did NOT hurt- haha!) reached 5 minutes apart, lasting for one minute each, everyone was ready to hit the hospital.  Yes, I know, I know... no pain and we wanted to get to the hospital?!  Were we crazy?!  Welllll, perhaps I was just desperately hoping that I would be one of those rare cases where I didn't really feel the contractions too much (yeahhhh, really smart, I know).  We figured, hey, better safe than sorry.

Well, that worked out well. 

NOT.

I asked the nurse if she thought that it could be possible I was in actual labor without being able to feel pain... She gave me that pity-filled, half-hearted, "Well, it could happen... let's just find out," answer... Let me translate for you: "Oh... you stupid, stupid girl... how are you so very ignorant about life?"  Turns out I was not in labor (surprise, surprise).  Oh, and want to hear the icing on top of the cake?  Apparently my blood pressure was high (I have NO idea why it would be high after consuming a salt-filled meal at P.F. Chang's, being at the peak of my pregnancy weight gain, and being nervous about whether or not I would be having my CHILD that evening!!!!.... ::deep breath::).  My blood pressure was high enough that they decided to check me for Preclampsia- awesome.  I was four days away from my due date, and they decided to check THEN for Preclampsia?!?!?!?!  REALLY?!  That is annoying enough to throw one into labor right then and there!  (At that time I would have hoped it would!)  Long story short, I didn't have Preclampsia (yet again... surprise, surprise), wasn't in labor, and ended up having to pay for the visit and lab work.  yay me.  Oh, and btdubs, we arrived back home at about 2:00am.  Fantastic.

This was all not only disappointing, but highly embarrassing as well.  Apparently, though, many other people have made the same mistake.  Either way, we went home with our tails between our legs.  After that night, I was extremely discouraged... I was SO ready to meet my little one.  In fact, I was so discouraged that I didn't even want to walk anymore and I began to just have a hopeless attitude about Lindsey being there for the birth.  This hopelessness and embarrassment over going to the hospital made me not want to go to the hospital when I really went into active labor on Wednesday the 11th at around 11:00am.

The night of the 10th-11th, I remember waking up in the middle of the night not feeling so hot in the "cramping" department.  By 11:00am on Wednesday, I was not a super happy camper.  I would stop and breathe through the contractions, and I also took a hot bath which felt pretty good but didn't stop the pain.  As said, I didn't want to go to the hospital again because I could just see the "Ohhhh it's the 'Am I in labor?  Are you sure??' girl again... (::rolling eyes::)" look from the nurses in my mind.  Thus, I decided to call my obstetrician's office to see what I should do.  They said to wait until the contractions were more at the "5 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, continuing on in that way for 1 hour" pattern, but she warned me that they were closing at 4:00pm.  Therefore, if I wanted an appointment, I would have to come in before 4pm.  Otherwise, I would have to just go to the hospital.  Well, I didn't want to chance having to be embarrassed and sent home again.  Therefore, we got on the road and headed to the office and arrived before they closed.  Well let. me. tell. YOU... that car trip was TERRIBLE!!!  OWWWWWW!!!!  Not fun in the least. 

Well apparently I was, indeed, contracting... I jumped up to 2 cm and was still 80% effaced.  My midwife, Dorothy Bree, could see that by my contractions and my dilation, I was ready to be admitted.

**Oh, as a side note, Travis was obviously there- we called him and told him that he should probably come home (glad we did!!!)**

I was admitted at 4:30pm on Wednesday the 11th of January, and that is when the fun began.  =]

To be continued...