Sunday, April 7, 2013

Sam's Arrival...17 Months Later

Despite my erratic blog posting behavior, I do enjoy reminiscing on past posts, especially the ones during pregnancy.  I have a terrible memory, so rereading posts about my pregnancy with Sam brings those precious and what-seems-like-forever-ago moments back to life.  I did a great job of recording the first 12 months of Sam's life on a Shutterfly website along with way too many pictures, but I've never gotten around to writing Sam's arrival into this world and into our lives.  So, on this beautiful day while both Sam and Marc are napping, I figured why not remember that crazy, amazing day. 

As you can read from this post, I made it to my due date - November 12, 2011.  I was frustrated thinking I would carry this baby forever.  No matter how many fears you have about actually delivering the baby, you definitely come to a point in your pregnancy that you really don't care how this baby comes out, but that it's time.  I was there.  It was a Saturday afternoon, and I figured since I made it to my due date, that I would most likely be induced sometime later in the week.  So, I may as well celebrate by getting out of the house.  It was the UGA v.. Auburn game, and I made plans to watch the game at our friends' home on the other side of the city.  Marc was not on board.  For once, the tables were turned and my husband was being the worrier of the family.  But, I assured him that Sam had no plans to come today and that even if I did go into labor, which I was certain would not happen, we would have plenty of time to get back to the house to collect our bags and head to the hospital  By the way, we had this heated discussion in some random aisle at the grocery store as I bought a few items to bring to Michael and Lauren's house.  As far as I was concerned, I was the one who was 9-months pregnant...if I wanted to go watch a football game at their house, I was going.  

And, we did and had a great time.  I remember not really watching the game...to be honest, I can't remember even who won, but I do remember eating ribs, zucchini chips and laughing really hard all night.  Lauren kept touching my belly asking I was having contractions to which I always responded with a shrug, "I have no idea."  Up to this point, I had no idea what contractions felt like and figured I would find out when it was time.  

Which is exactly what happened as we drove home around 10:00 that night.  As Marc was having a recap of the game with his parents, I started feeling this intense cramp.  And, then it happened again.  I grabbed the "oh shi*t" handle above my window (I'm sure these handles have a more appropriate name, but that's what I always have called them, and this night, that was exactly how I was feeling).  As these cramps aka contractions kept coming and causing me to double over, I remember Marc telling his parents, "No, she's doing great.  I don't think Sam is coming tonight."  At some point he looked over at me and realized maybe that was not the case.  We made it home and what happened over the next few hours was a blur, or at least that's how I remember it.  But, Marc started timing contractions and they were maybe 5-7 minutes apart.  I tried to sleep - because that's what "they" tell you to do, but whoever "they" are is crazy.  There was no sleeping this pain off.  So, I then, watched tv, took a bath, walked around the house freaking out, finished packing my bag and when we (meaning I) couldn't take it anymore, we decided the hospital was the next stop...but not before I took a shower (A practical piece of advice from my friend Lauren since I didn't know when I may be getting my next shower).  I was pretty sure that I was in labor, but I had this nagging fear that they were going to send me home once I arrived at the hospital.  Despite this lingering fear, we loaded our bags and my freshly showered, laboring self into the car to drive to Northside Hospital around 3:00 a.m...not realizing that when we returned, we would be bringing home our son.....

.....to be continued


No comments:

Post a Comment