Remembering that fateful day...

At 12:03AM on June 25, I was awaken by a searing pain in my abdominal area. This was no Braxton-Hicks contraction. Figuring that there was no way I would be going back to sleep and I had some time on my hands until I actually needed to go to the hospital, I headed downstairs into the living room to watch some TV without letting Jason know what was going on. I watched Conan O'Brien and there were some pretty lame guests on Craig Ferguson and Carson Daly. My other alternatives were Guthy-Renker infomericals or porn on Cinemax. Since I needed a good laugh, I chose porn on Cinemax. Nothing like terrible dialogue & acting, coupled with unrealistic situations to bring about sex for a good chuckle. Then I noticed "The 40-Year Old Virgin" was on, so I flipped it to that.

I was experiencing inconsistent contractions every 5 or 10 minutes. Halfway through the movie, at about 2:30, I went up to let Jason know that the real deal was going on. "Do I need to get up?" he said. "No", I replied. "Good, Jay need his sleepies" was his response and he promptly went back to sleep.

After Virgin was over with, there was truly nothing on and my contractions were inconsistent still. Might as well get some work done! Made myself a cup of decaf tea, cracked open my laptop, responded to some e-mail, and put some finishing touches on some projects I was working on. Jason rose out of bed at 6:45AM and came downstairs to check on me. He asked if he should stay home and without hesitation I told him to stay put.

Jason made me go back to bed to rest up for when the "real deal" occurred and he logged into his laptop to work from home. However, he did set-up my laptop in our bedroom and brought up a walkie-talkie to let him know if I needed anything. The day was pretty uneventful. Between naps, I did a little work on my laptop, Jason brought up my usual lunch (PB&J and a glass of water) and the dogs snuck in to catch a nap beside me. Jason spent his day working in the newly finished basement and put up blinds during his breaks.

By 3:30PM, I was getting pretty fed up with the inconsistent contractions that I called my doctor's office. They told me I needed to wait longer... 5:30 rolls around and the contractions were intensifying. They made is difficult to eat the delicious beef ravioli dinner Jason made. I never felt such pain before. There is no way to describe them, only that they absolutely suck. We started watching "Studio 60..." episodes and halfway through second one we were watching, I get up to use the bathroom. All I could see was blood. It was about 7:00 and I had Jason call the doctor and left a message. It took about 15 minutes for the doctor on call to return his phone call. But, in the end, I had to go to hospital. Finally!!!

Jason calls his mom to let her know to come out and watch the dogs. We pile into the Envoy and off we go to the hospital. Well, we had been to the hospital a few times, but Jason was in some mindset that he was going to work and didn't get into the correct lane to make the left onto Michigan. Since we couldn't scoot over to the correct lane, Jason went straight. He turned to me and asked which way he should go. "How the Hell should I know?!?! You work downtown and I don't!" And, I proceeded to call him a dumbass. Really not appropriate, but for Pete's sake! If you never been to Grand Rapids, most of the downtown roads are blocked off for construction. Jason made a few turns that didn't work out, but we eventually made to the ER entrance.

We eventually made it to the OB triage. There, we were "greeted" by a nurse and quickly began barraging us with a million and one questions. The only questions I remember were "Do you want an epidural?" Yes. "When?" Now. Then, she needed to check to see how much I was dilated, which by the way, is pretty uncomfortable. The nurse had trouble figuring it out and had to get another nurse to see how much I dilated. By 7:45PM, I was dilated to 4cm and I was officially admitted into the hospital and taken to a birthing room.

Once in the birthing room, we met our nurse that was assigned to us and she started to prep me for an IV. She could not do it to save her life. It hurt worse than a contraction! She finally gave up and the anesthesiologist, who was waiting patiently to administer the epidural, had to put in the IV. When it came to administering the epidural, it was a really uncomfortable experience. It doesn't hurt per se, just a lot of pressure against your spine until that lovely medicine makes it way into your spinal fluid. Once it takes full effect, it is one magical drug.

When you are in the birthing room, it is pretty boring. A lot of waiting. Jason made a few phone calls, the nurse came in to check on me, and I watched a little TV. Jason and I tried to get some sleep in, but it was difficult. One of the machines I was hooked up to would beep every 15-20 minutes. By midnight, I was asked to start pushing. Yeah, lets get this kid out of me!!! I would push for 15 minutes, even though one of the stirrups was broken and ultimately hurt my leg, and then I would rest for an hour. One thing they never mentioned in the pre-natal classes or the pregnancy books is the shaking. My hormones went in a tailspin and I was shaking uncontrollably. Jason was a trooper through this and had no problem being in the trenches.

At 5AM, I was visited by the doctor on call. He examined me and determined that it would be difficult for me to deliver vaginally. The baby was "sunny-side up" and my pelvic area did not expand correctly. It was like trying to put a square peg through a round hole. A C-section was proposed and I agreed. They rolled me into the OR and Jason would follow later. More drugs were administered. With Jason and the anesthesiologist at my sides, at 6AM on the dot, baby Audrey Violet was born. I wasn't able to hold her for another hour and half due to the shaking, but it was well worth the wait.