24 Hours

Last year on this day as I laid down for a 3pm nap I had no idea that the next 24 hours would change my life forever.

After a morning of breakfast out with Mike and my Mom and a trip to the mall, that left me finally feeling “ready” for the baby, I did what any 8.5 month pregnant women does on a Sunday afternoon, tried to rest as comfortably as possible. We were having dinner at my Mom’s that night and all through the meal I just didn’t feel well, even the smell of the garlic toast made me feel sick. Following the short drive home we decided to watch 500 Days of Summer, figuring with the work week coming up we wouldn’t  have time to get to it, little did we know. Heading to bed early, I complained of a stomach ache, and worried aloud to Mike that I had to work 20 minutes from home the next day and “what if I went into labor.” Apparently that was something that I shouldn’t have worried about.

At 1:30am I woke up, as I did many times a night, to go to the bathroom. I still had a “stomach ache”, but it was worse then the night before. I laid awake in bed for the next 2 hours thinking that I just didn’t feel well and with the pain getting worse. Finally at 3:30am I woke up Mike and calmly told him that I thought I was in labor. He was not very happy that I waited so long, but I told him I thought at least one of us should get some sleep. Another trip to the bathroom and I was fairly sure that my water started leaking, but being the stubborn nurse I am, I refused to go to the hospital because my Dr. wouldn’t be on until 8am. At some point in the next 3 hours of laboring by the light of the Christmas tree, I called my Mom who was going to come to the hospital with us. By 6:30 my contractions were 5 minutes apart so Mike called Labor and Delivery and they told him I had to come in. All the way there I told Mike and my Mom that I couldn’t really be in labor and that I just knew they would check me and send me home. Again, little did I know.

Upon arrival at the hospital, the nurse checked me and said that I was 5 almost 6 cm dilated and that my water had definitely broke. We were going to meet our, who wasn’t due for another 2 weeks, in the next 24 hours. Our Jan 2010 baby was going to be a Dec 2009 arrival.

More of Megan’s birth story to come tomorrow…