A "Pre" Birth Story

It is 4:45am on November 21, 2011.

Last night I was laying in bed around 8:30 and was quite surprised to find the bed a bit wet when I got up.  

I quickly came to the assumption that my water had broken, or was at least leaking.  After a few more surges of water, a confirming phone call from my mom, and an anxious husband's decision that we needed to go to the hospital now we headed to the car.  I had a huge fear that I was making everything up and that we'd get to the hospital and they would tell us "Sorry! You can head back home... you're not in labor." As we headed out to the car we tip toed so as to not let any of our neighbors see the obvious caravan of a very pregnant woman and her husband laden with a hospital bag, car seat, camera bag, and backpack.  Again - because of my fear that it would be a false alarm and a very amusing story to all of our friends and neighbors. 

We arrived to the hospital about 10:00.  As we approached the Labor and Delivery Desk I kind of laughed and said, "I think my water broke... " Luckily they took me more seriously than I took myself.  They escorted us to a large delivery room and began doing a few simple tests.  Sure enough, around 10:30 it was confirmed that my water had broken and we weren't going home with out a baby in our arms.  

I can't even explain the multitude of feelings I experienced as I sat there, being poked, prodded, asked a million questions and signing a million papers.  It was as if it were all too surreal.  Could this moment we've been waiting for the past 9 months really be here? Are we really in a delivery room? Wait - are we ready for this?  

Seven hours later the feeling of awe is long gone.  It's not fun having an IV in your hand that is surprisingly painful.  I don't like having my blood pressure checked every 15 minutes.  I'm thirsty and hungry and the only thing I can do about it is suck on ice chips (or wait til they melt... haha... rebel).  I'm hot and uncomfortable and hospital beds are WAY over rated.  I wish we were at home, and I was sound asleep.  Maybe we should have taken our time getting to the hospital... I'm only dilated to 3.5cm and 90% effaced.  Oh - and I'm not hurting at all! The contractions hardly phase me.  I'm ready for some real progress, to get this baby out of here and into my arms.  But it looks like that won't be for a while.... The pitocin they're giving me is only doing so much.  

So here I am at 5:00 in the morning, exhausted from watching the big hand of a clock move slowly around in circles.  Hopefully you find this little pre-birth story amusing, all you moms out there.  

kluvyoubye