Four Years Ago Tonight

We we were arriving at Miles Memorial Hospital just about this time of night on Friday, March 13, 2009 – the very day I was due.  I was in heavy labor.  My contractions were only 60 seconds apart and they were lasting up to 90 seconds.  They thought I might be in transitional labor already.  If only I had been so fortunate.  Nope.  Just hard labor.

The day had begun with a sleepless night.  But it was my first day off from Spotless Cleaners on maternity leave (that’s kind of a joke since we owned the business).  The sky was blue and the sun was out.  I was tired but excited.  I kind of just felt I would go into labor that day.  But I guess a lot of women feel they will go into labor on or before their due date and never due. 

I went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant with my mom and grandmother.  I remember eating a delicious taco salad in a great shell.  I don’t remember what happened next until being in the bathroom that evening and telling Dave I really thought I was in labor.  I also remember thinking that the contractions were easy and the whole thing would be a cake walk.  Hahahaha.  That was not a funny joke.  We called my midwife and she told us to wait until the contractions were five minutes apart.  We left for Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, Maine around 8 PM and on the way there my contractions were so intense and so close together.

The night was young my friends.  Oh so young.  I was wondering how I would live through the night when I wasn’t really dilating and my labor was so intense.  I walked so much around the hallways as my mother and Dave chatted over coffee and had a glorious time.  I was happy for them because I am not into clinging to others in that state.  My water broke and then I sat in a shower until they realized the baby’s heart rate was getting too elevated. 

The labor continued into the wee hours of the morning of March 14.  I had these grandiose visions of having a soothing water birth.  I learned a lot about myself that night.  Who I was and who I wasn’t.  I am definitely not a good relaxer.  And the dreams of a soothing water birth were not me.  The water had cooled off and it just wasn’t comforting at all. 

I remember having these enormous fears that something would be wrong with the baby.

I prayed and prayed and begged God.  That was mostly all I could do in the intense pain.  Until I asked… but that happened on March 14.  So this is to be continued.