26 Years Ago

Today is my Baby's birthday--she turns 26. It was quite an adventure, that day 26 years ago.

All of the fun began on 2 March. It was a Friday--the last day of school for The Oldest before spring break began. As was the usual case, K brought her to stay with The Mother for break. I stayed behind because I was in the nesting phase of my pregnancy, big time. That day found me washing, drying, and ironing curtains. By the time K got home, I had the ironing board set up in the living room so that I could watch TV while ironing. Too busy to actually fix a meal, I asked K to go out and pick up some food--I was HUNGRY!!! He came home with the double Whopper with cheese, fries, and chocolate shake I asked for. (I SAID I was HUNGRY!) After eating, I got back to my curtains.

With one of the breakfast nook curtains on the ironing board, I had the need to go to the bathroom. After sitting for a while, I realized I couldn't stop peeing--and then it occurred to me that my water had broken. And the 'waters' wouldn't stop. It WAS quite disgusting, to say the least. We won't discuss the state of my clothes as we left the house, but it WAS 2 March and I WAS wearing a pair of sandals to go to the hospital. The time was about 8:00 PM. I hadn't had a contraction, yet, but considering I gave birth to The Oldest 45 minutes after getting to the hospital, we felt as if going to the hospital immediately was the most prudent thing to do.

The OB wing wasn't very busy when we got there, so they decided to keep me--even though I STILL hadn't had a contraction. It made me feel a whole lot better to be allowed to stay--I wasn't in any mood to give birth at home. My obstetrician came in to see me and said I wouldn't have the baby until 2:00 AM, at the earliest. And so we waited.

I always said I would have had more kids if I could have gotten pregnant and given birth the following day. I didn't do pregnancy well--I had problems with both of mine, with high blood pressure being the least of the problems. However, I did labor and delivery VERY well, and this time was no different from the first. I was hooked up to a fetal monitor and K watched it and told me whenever I had a contraction--that is how mild they were. Finally, around midnight, I would feel something and ask him if I was having a contraction. For the next hour or so, the contractions continually got stronger, but didn't really bother me too much. Around 1:30 AM, I began feeling as if things were getting started--AND I was beginning to feel pain. A LOT OF PAIN.

Shortly after 2:00 AM, the doctor was called and the preparations began for the birth. I had gone from 'it will be a while till this happens' to 'OMG she's ready to drop the kid' in a matter of 15 minutes. They barely got everything in place and my daughter was born--the time was 2:30 AM. And I still remember it like it was yesterday.

I just got off of the phone with my Baby Girl--she needed to hear the annual singing of! :) Birthdays just aren't birthdays without my rendition of the song. Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!