November 7, 2009: This is my Dad's birthday. He passed away in May of this year, so it's the first time this date has occurred in my life without a Dad to call and tell him I love him.
This is also exactly how early Gabriella was born. She arrived 2 weeks, 5 days early... so if Brianna was going to follow in her big sister's footsteps, she'd come on my Dad's birthday.
Unfortunately, despite my anticipation and eager wishes, this day passed without even a hint of impending labor. Sigh...
November 18, 2009: At this point I am beyond irritated that I'm still pregnant. I am bigger than I was with Gabriella (as evidenced by the degree of "flatness" of my belly button), 11 days PAST when Gabriella was born, and just done with pregnancy overall. On this day, I also noticed that I hadn't felt baby movements in a while, or that they were much more gentle than in the past. Secretly knowing what the doctor was going to have me do, AND secretly knowing that I was fine, I still called my OB and complained of decreased fetal movement. I was, of course, sent to the hospital for monitoring to make sure that she was healthy and okay.
And she was.
And I was still pregnant.
November 19, 2009: I had a scheduled doctor's appointment on this next day. Maybe I'd walk in and be 6 cm dilated and have to rush to the hospital.
Nope. My doctor said I was only 1 cm dilated (which I had been at the last doctor's appointment) and that the baby was still "very high." Sigh.
I brought Gabriella to this appointment with me, so we decided to stop at Wegman's on the way home to buy her favorite cupcakes. She was a very good girl at the doctor's office... With cupcakes in tow, we headed home. It was raining heavily and I was excited to get back to our house.
And then it happened.
"Mommy, I have to go pee! I really have to go pee!"
"Okay honey, hold on, I'll find a potty for you!" Of course, on this particular stretch of road, there were no convenient potties, so I had to find a suitable private spot for her to squat.
Pouring rain, cold, mud, helping my daughter squat by the side of the road to pee... my water breaks.
Really? Now? Can this get any more un-romantic?
Drove home, called doctor (who of course tells me to go to hospital.) Ate dinner (we all have our priorities) and was at the hospital around 7:30pm. I was 4 cm dillated.
By about 11:30pm, I was still only 5.5/6cm dillated. What was going on? I thought I'd be faster than this?
The doctor "popped" the rest of my water. I didn't know that your water could break, but you could still have more water pockets... Anyway, I took my 3rd or 4th shower and the pains began pretty intensely. Thankfully Stew was there and able to put aside his medical queasiness (as he had to deal with some puking issues and other unsightly things.) Brianna was born at 12:48pm. I had about 4 REALLY painful pushes. I do NOT remember Gabriella's labor hurting this bad. In fact, I specifically recalled thinking how appreciative I was that there was no "ring of fire" as my friend had described. Well, this time there was a ring -no a tunnel of fire! It really hurt. Really really hurt! I didn't use an epidural, but I recall the doctor saying that she was going to inject some numbing stuff into me, as I was going to tear (sorry for the gross details)--- I was trying to request that she inject that stuff all over me -- "Be generous with it," I was trying to gasp out, but all that came out was "this f--ing hurts!"
But then my beautiful baby was finally born. "She's big," I heard the nurse say. (Maybe explaining the additional pain?) They put her on my stomach and I was completely in love. She was healthy and beautiful - 'I am so lucky,' I thought to myself. I could physically feel my heart expand in that instant.
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