WARNING: Long post
It all began around 12am on June 10, 2012. I had a sensation that woke me up out of my sleep. It wasn't painful, just different. Chef was asleep and I wasn't about to wake him up for what I thought was nothing. I went to the bathroom and laid back down. The contractions continued but I figured they were just like the other Braxton Hicks I had for months...just a little stronger. About an hour and a half later the contraction woke me up again. I reminded myself of what my midwife told me at one of my visits, "With Braxton Hicks just about anything you do can make them stop but when it's GO time, nothing you will do can make them stop." With that, I decided to hop in the shower. By this time it was 3am. The sound of the shower woke Chef up and he asked me if everything was alright. I told him I was having contractions and wanted to take a shower to see if they would go away. At this point he couldn't go back to sleep. He was so concerned. After I got out of the shower (with him in the bathroom the ENTIRE time just in case) he asked if I wanted to go on a walk. I said SURE. So here we are 3:30 in the morning walking around the neighborhood. At this point I still wasn't convinced I was in labor. The contractions were getting closer together but they weren't painful. Chef and I got bored after about 45 minutes and decided to head back to the house to watch some movies. We were watching Snow White and the Huntsman and I swear to you I didn't make it past the opening credits because I went to sleep. The contractions woke me up again around 6 am and Chef and I decided to take another walk around our neighborhood. This time around I had to stop walking during a contraction. Not because it was painful, but because I physically couldn't move my legs. Chef was timing them and they were 5-6 minutes apart lasting between 30 seconds and a minute. At this point I decided I was in labor and was going to take things 2 hours at a time. I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible because my biggest fear was to get to the birth center and be turned away because I wasn't far enough along. I wasn't having it. I tired myself out walking and we headed home. By this time it was 7 in the morning and I decided to give my mom a call to let her know what I thought was going on. Before I called my mom i went to the bathroom and when I wiped, I noticed I had lost my mucus plug. I had also gone to the bathroom (number 2 style) at least six times at this point. I figured my body was making space . Putting all of this together, I knew it was real. My mom is an early riser like me so I knew it wouldn't be a problem with me calling her at 7am. I told her I thought I was in labor. She was beyond excited and we discussed the symptoms I was having to confirm. I told her that i felt fine and that she should stay home until I decide to go to the birth center and see what they say. She agreed and told me she needed to go tell my sister.
Ok. Chef and I took another nap only to be awakened by a phone call from my mother around 8:30 -9am asking if we had called the birth center yet. NOPE. I took a nap slumped over my ottoman in the living room because that was comfortable to me and I didn't see the need to call the birth center if I could take a nap through my contractions. I was trying to rest up for the big event. She lectured me on how she thinks we should call just to make sure everything was ok with the baby and to get checked. I told her to stop worrying, I was fine, Baby was fine and I didn't feel like I needed to call the birth center yet. She then proceeds to tell me, "We're on our way!" She only lives an hour and a half away I figured she could at least wait until the birth center said I should stay before she made her way to our house I said, "I told you to stay home until we got to the birth center. What if I don't have the baby today?" She said, "OK OK OK! But you need to call them." I told her I would see how I felt in 2 hours and keep her updated. I took another nap but my contractions were definitely getting closer together. When I woke up, I told Chef I wanted to go on another walk. This time while we were walking the contractions squeezed a tear out of my eye. Not because they were painful, but because the squeezing was just so tight I lost a little eye juice. As we were making our way around the cul-de-sac, out of the corner of my eye I see my mom's car pull into my driveway. What the hell man?!
to be continued...
