365 Days Later...The Birth Story, Part One: The Great Gush

Team P had left town after celebrating J's 30th birthday, and my nesting instincts were driving me to clean the house from top to bottom again. But I was tired. I was 39 weeks pregnant, for goodness sake! I was already dilated to 1 1/2, maybe 2 cm, and 75% effaced. My belly was bulbous and my legs and feet were swollen with what we in the nursing world term "pitting edema". 4+ pitting edema, in fact - which means that when you press your fingers into my shins or the top of my feet, deep indentations remain for some time, indentations wide and deep enough to store a peanut M&M or a gumdrop.

So instead of cleaning, J and I went in thebackyard and I started watering the grass. Then I decided to water J too - after some convincing, and a little whining and pitiful look-how-pregnant-i-am-ing I talked J into having a water fight with the hose, and into playing easy enough that I could participate given my delicate state. After the water fight, we went inside and I procrastinated by playing some Sequence and then taking a nap on the couch (I bent the no-sleeping-on-the-couch rule more than a few times when I was harboring a human being). Finally in the late afternoon I gave in and J and I started cleaning the house.

J was upstairs finishing up mopping and I was downstairs squatting next to the front door wiping the doorframe when all of sudden I felt a warm gush of fluid. I was wearing J's basketball shorts. I went in the bathroom to investigate the situation and I shouted upstairs "Ummm, I think my water just broke." I couldn't believe I was actually saying those words. I couldn't believe that this could be it. I actually might be going into labor - mysterious, scary, great-unknown labor. And then J and I were going to come home with our baby. That would stay here in our house! It was so much that I couldn't wrap my mind around it, hadn't been able to during most of the pregnancy, so once again I didn't bother trying, and instead I just forged ahead with the well-this-is-happening-so-I-will-take-it-as-it-comes plan. Upstairs I heard a racket as J's mop tumbled to the floor and he clumsily ran downstairs looking wild-eyed and panicky. He's usually so steady and unshakable, so his reaction was hilarious and kept me calm and collected as he flurried around me and the person-in-my-belly.

After further investigation of the Great Gush, I called the hospital and spoke with the triage nurse. It was exactly 6 pm when the gush had occured. The triage nurse politely told me oftentimes women late in pregnancy can't control their bladder and that most likely that's what this was - as a very small percentage of women's labor actually begins with their water breaking, I understood her gentle suggestion, but I politely told her "Well, I'm a nurse, and I know what pee smells like, and this doesn't smell like pee." The nurse said that I was welcome to come in and get checked but sounded doubtful that I would be staying - she still said to bring our bags just in case. I was somewhat confused about what to do by her reaction, but when she asked whether or not we were coming in, I said yes, I was going to get checked, but I was going to shower and eat dinner first.

I quickly showered, not washing my hair as it was clean and done and I had been long-concerned about having decent hair during this whole process. I was going to be photographed! Priorities, people. J packed our bags into the car, and I climbed in the front seat to go grab Subway for dinner, since Subway was just a few minutes from both our house and the hospital. As I did all of these things I thought I felt more of the gushing feeling, and when I climbed into the front seat of the car, another gush of great proportions occurred. I knew in that moment that my water really had broken and this was, in fact, happening. BB was on his way.

After a quick dinner, we arrived at the hospital at 7 pm, still munching on some chips. The nurses told me I was smart to eat before I came in. I was directed towards triage where they told me to change into a gown. Amniotic fluid was dripping down my legs and onto the floor as I changed into my gown in the bathroom, and I felt bad for making such a mess. I left the bathroom and walked over to the table, warning them of the gushy situation I had left behind. I climbed onto the table and the nurse swiped a litmus-like paper across my leg and announced with certainty, "oh yeah, this is amniotic fluid". THIS IS REALLY IT! She checked me, and I was dilated a little further along than I had been at my appointment earlier that week. With the official medical word, J went and called our family and close friends, and updated his Facebook status to "Water is broken. Baby is imminent."

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

Look at these smiles! And who needs hair product when you can style your hair with smashed banana? That's what BB thinks anyway. In fact, just before taking these photos, BB said "nana", as in, banana, twice!
Here's a long video of BB saying anything except "nana", hence the wordlessness of this post (although you do get to hear me say nana about six thousand times).

Tip: Skip ahead to minute 2, that's about where the BB cuteness starts (unless you love hearing me say "nana"-in that case, definitely watch the first two minutes.)

Sneak Peek

Friends! I have so much to fill you all in on, but in the midst of hiking and swimming and traveling and illness, I am busy turning this:

into the best first birthday party BB's ever had!

That's right, BB's first birthday is fast approaching - I can't wait to celebrate, and I will definitely be sharing the details with all of you! In the meantime you can find me googling moderately healthy cake recipes or washing paint off my hands.

Sliding

Can you tell how BB feels about slides?

BB's quite the climber! He likes climbing up on the park play equipment and standing at the top of the slide to tell us "It's time to slide again!"

Sprouts: First Fruits

Our potted yellow bell pepper plant is the flourishing member of our garden family, and last week J spotted our first little pepper among the leaves and little white blooms.

Do you see it? Close up!
And here it is just 3 days later - so much bigger already!


Here you can see the other two bell pepper plants, which are no where near as tall and leafy as the potted plant is.Up against the back wall you can see our 5 zucchini plants that grew from seeds! SEEDS!

And here is our very first tomato!

BB comes outside with me to water the garden in the morning - he walks in the grass and on the rocks (crazy boy!) and likes to dig his fingers in the soil while I talk to him about what plants are what and show him the strawberries growing or the first tomato. Looking forward to more fruits of our labor!

Soccer Mom: Game 2

After my melodramatic first soccer mom post, you'll all be happy to know that that after a couple of days soccer no longer held all of my life's happiness in the balance. I was unable to play in our team's second game because I had a cold that lasted 10 days (which I now know I was coming down with at Game 1), so Game 2 for me was last night, and I am relieved to report that I had a lot of fun!

I went into the game pretty nervous, but once I got there and talked to the other team members and got an actual jersey (instead of a t-shirt with tape on the back for my number!) I was ready to go. And midway into the 1st half I made contact with the ball and actually passed it! To my own team member! And the rest of the game just got better from there - I even stole the ball once! I definitely have a long way to go, but I really enjoyed it, even with no subs (so we all played the whole game).

Here's to not being afraid of the ball!

Matchies with Little C

I instantly smiled when I read a facebook "flair" a few years ago that said

I don't have OCD, I have CDO - it's like OCD but all the letters are in alphabetical order...like they should be.

My CDO causes my anxiety to peak when I think about posting photos so far out of chronological order, however this cuteness, as many things with BB, is more important than my CDO.

MATCHIES!
Little C's Mommy and I were super excited (5 weeks ago) when we found Little C shorts that matched BB's on the rack at Ross for a mere $4. Here's a worse-lit-but-better-shot-of-the-matchy-shorts action photo:Cuteness!