A year ago today.....
I was vehemently disagreeing with everyone around me who said I was really in labor. This couldn't be it....I can still breathe (sort of)....I can still talk (sort of)....I can still.....
I was determined that the contractions I was feeling were just "practice ones." I was convinced that I would be later than my due date....after all, no one in my family went early, did they? (If they did, I blocked that out of my memory, because all I remember hearing was how LATE everybody went past their due dates. Certainly that'd happen to me, too. That's just how it goes.)
I check and re-checked to make sure my bags were packed. I had a pile of things to add to my luggage at the last minute before heading out the door. Thirty-seven times I checked....yep, it's all there. It's ready. I'm not!!!
I made sure all of his little clothes and blankets were washed and folded. Yes, they were. That meant I had nothing tedious to bide my time and get my mind off of the uncomfortableness.
Late that Monday night, I found myself lying on the couch with a heating pad on my back. I had it switched to "low," and I alternated it 10 minutes on, 5 minutes off (per doctor's orders). I was too nervous to eat....but I drank lots of cranberry juice. I laid there, hand on the side of my huge belly, feeling each contraction roll from back to front every three minutes. Every three minutes!
Ken, poor Ken...he slept on the floor beneath my wide-eyed self. He clutched his stopwatch in his hands, finally tiring at 1am of timing the break between each contraction. I let him sleep. He would certainly need the stores for later.
I flipped on the television. I remembered suddenly that I had watched cartoons on the morning of our wedding....it calmed me, comforted me. No cartoons to be found now....but I did find a classic...."Lassie, Come Home." I drifted in and out of light sleep while I watched this memorable movie.
I finally resorted to the bathtub. I filled it up to the brim with warm water and laid there for two hours....replacing cooled water with more warm. It helped take the edge off, but I realized I couldn't stay in there forever. The birds started chirping outside. It was nearly dawn.
.....to be continued.....
I was vehemently disagreeing with everyone around me who said I was really in labor. This couldn't be it....I can still breathe (sort of)....I can still talk (sort of)....I can still.....
I was determined that the contractions I was feeling were just "practice ones." I was convinced that I would be later than my due date....after all, no one in my family went early, did they? (If they did, I blocked that out of my memory, because all I remember hearing was how LATE everybody went past their due dates. Certainly that'd happen to me, too. That's just how it goes.)
I check and re-checked to make sure my bags were packed. I had a pile of things to add to my luggage at the last minute before heading out the door. Thirty-seven times I checked....yep, it's all there. It's ready. I'm not!!!
I made sure all of his little clothes and blankets were washed and folded. Yes, they were. That meant I had nothing tedious to bide my time and get my mind off of the uncomfortableness.
Late that Monday night, I found myself lying on the couch with a heating pad on my back. I had it switched to "low," and I alternated it 10 minutes on, 5 minutes off (per doctor's orders). I was too nervous to eat....but I drank lots of cranberry juice. I laid there, hand on the side of my huge belly, feeling each contraction roll from back to front every three minutes. Every three minutes!
Ken, poor Ken...he slept on the floor beneath my wide-eyed self. He clutched his stopwatch in his hands, finally tiring at 1am of timing the break between each contraction. I let him sleep. He would certainly need the stores for later.
I flipped on the television. I remembered suddenly that I had watched cartoons on the morning of our wedding....it calmed me, comforted me. No cartoons to be found now....but I did find a classic...."Lassie, Come Home." I drifted in and out of light sleep while I watched this memorable movie.
I finally resorted to the bathtub. I filled it up to the brim with warm water and laid there for two hours....replacing cooled water with more warm. It helped take the edge off, but I realized I couldn't stay in there forever. The birds started chirping outside. It was nearly dawn.
.....to be continued.....
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