We made plans for Mom to come to Colorado the last week of the semester in case I needed to go to the hospital and so I could study for finals instead of being the sole caregiver for the other 4 kids. My due date was just a few weeks after my sister was scheduled to leave the country. I desperately wish that Tater had been here to meet her new niece, but it wasn't in the cards.
I had an appointment around May 3rd, though it may have been a full week before that, and the doctor let me know that I was 3 cm dilated. I was having contractions and wasn't sure I would make it through the weekend. My mom and I talked and decided that she should probably start driving since it was a 12 hour trip and babies are unpredictable. She was here the next day. While she was driving, I was nesting like crazy. That was completely knew for me, and I had every expectation of telling my mom to meet me at the hospital whenFacebook (2) she got into town. We had dinner at Red Lobster that night instead.
I made it through finals week and continued working...doing things that very pregnant women should be doing...unloading trucks and pushing flatbeds around the store, with a ton of bending and lifting and walking. Every time I went to the doctor, the news was the same. I was still 3 cm. I was having contractions fairly regularly. They weren't making a difference though. I was due May 10th. At my appointment on May 15th, we decided that we needed to schedule an induction for the 20th. I was still in good spirits and told the nurse to tell my doctor that I would see him on Monday morning and he better remember to show up this time.
Around 5:00 AM on the 16th, I figured out that I was really in labor. I got the kids all ready for school, called work to let them know that I wasn't going to be there, dropped most of the kids off at school, and then Mom, Spiderman, and I headed to the hospital at 8:00 AM.
By 10:30, I was in my room, with an epidural, and feeling pretty fantastic. I was texting and tweeting to keep everyone informed. My mom had taken Spiderman to McDonald's for breakfast, so it was just me and the nurse. At like 11:20, I told the nurse I felt like pushing, so she said, "Okay! Let's have you push a few times and then we'll get this doctor in here and we'll have a baby!" I pushed once and she called the doctor and told me not to push anymore. Chuck was ready to go. Once the doctor arrived at 11:38, Nurse Nancy told me to go ahead and push. I pushed once and the doctor and nurse were cheering me on. They told me to breathe and then push again and immediately after I started pushing they told me to stop. Yes, because that's convenient timing. After about 30 seconds, they told me to go ahead and push again, and then suddenly, there was a baby...a fat, squirmy, pink baby. My baby...the baby that I had been terrified that I couldn't love, that I couldn't take care of, that I couldn't protect...my baby. She was here and I couldn't have been more wrong about how I would feel. I loved her two parents' worth from the second I held her.
After confirming that Chuck was a girl (Mom had been super concerned that the ultrasound was wrong), I called or texted my mom to let her know that she could bring Spiderman back to meet her sister. They were still at McDonald's, my mom's van blocked in by three cop cars. Spiderman still talks about it.
By the time they arrived, Chuck was all cleaned up and beautiful, waiting for her adoring fans. Spiderman burst into the room, demanding to see her baby. Her actual baby, Thor, had been abandoned on the floor hours earlier. Spiderman wanted to hold the baby and kiss the baby and count her fingers and make sure everything was okay. She kept telling the staff that it was her baby. Chuck needed to go to the nursery for some standard testing, so we packed up all my stuff and switched to the postpartum room. We had to stop by the nursery on the way so Spiderman could see that she was still there.
Mom brought all the kids to the hospital after school so they could meet Chuck. They were all smitten immediately, but who can blame them? She's a lovable little thing. The other 4 went to their dad's house the next day and Mom brought us home from the hospital. It was nice to have that time alone at home before getting back into the everyday insanity.
When Minion, the 6 year old, walked in the door on Sunday afternoon, he took one look at me and yelled, "Mom, is the baby walking yet?!?!" No, kiddo, she's not. Did she say her first word? No, you didn't miss that either. She's going to be tiny for a while yet and we've got all the time in the world to watch her grow.
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