First Birthday PartyCal's birth story (long version):
Calvin's due date was October 31st, 2004. On September 23rd, I had a bad night of sleep and remembered later that I woke up moaning a couple times without really realizing why. I woke up normally and went to work- I worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Northwest Arkansas and we had a special event planned that Friday: A charity golf tournament. So I spent the day running around the golf course, making sure drinks were aplenty and people were happy. Around noon, though, I felt awful and my stomach hurt. I asked my boss, Melody (who was also my very good friend), "What would it feel like if I were in labor?" She answered, "Honey [southern thing to say], you would know if you were in labor!" She gave me permission to go home, however, and get some rest and then come back in the afternoon to help clean up.
I went back to my house and crashed for a couple hours- again, waking up intermittedly, moaning. I finally realized I couldn't sleep and got up to watch tv. I then realized the pains were coming quite frequently, so I started writing down the duration. By then, I started calling Eric and was getting no answer. I was a little frustrated because I wanted some reassurance but relieved, too, since this wasn't the real deal.
I finally called the hospital when the contractions were about 6 minutes apart, 30 seconds long. Some nurse told me not to worry because they needed to be a minute long. I called back when they were 4 minutes apart and 45 seconds long and they decided I should come in to get checked out (duh).
During the contractions, I took a shower, packed a bag and would sit on the couch inbetween. They weren't that strong so I was able to talk and move about, sort of freely. I finally got ahold of Eric as I was headed out the door and yelled at him, "You need to have your cell phone on you at all times! What if I was really in labor?! Meet me at the hospital." So I drove myself to the hospital- about 15 minutes away.
Eric and I went in around 5:30pm, I got hooked up to a machine and I waited. After a while, a nurse came in to tell me they were going to put me on magnesium to stop the labor and I asked, "So I'm really in labor?" She said, "Oh, honey. You don't know what's going on, do you?"
After a lot of pain and time, they offered me a drug that made me feel drunk and I HATED! Finally, they took me off the mag. and offered me an epidural at 2am which I excitedly accepted.
Four hours of interrupted sleep later, they woke me at 6am to start pushing. Since we hadn't yet gone to the birthing class, I had no idea what I was doing. The nurses were very kind and showed me what to do. Without feeling a thing, thanks to the epidural, I pushed for 15 minutes and out came Calvin David (with help from that stupid knife)- 6lbs; 3oz. He was perfectly tiny and we got to take him home the next day.
Calvin's due date was October 31st, 2004. On September 23rd, I had a bad night of sleep and remembered later that I woke up moaning a couple times without really realizing why. I woke up normally and went to work- I worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Northwest Arkansas and we had a special event planned that Friday: A charity golf tournament. So I spent the day running around the golf course, making sure drinks were aplenty and people were happy. Around noon, though, I felt awful and my stomach hurt. I asked my boss, Melody (who was also my very good friend), "What would it feel like if I were in labor?" She answered, "Honey [southern thing to say], you would know if you were in labor!" She gave me permission to go home, however, and get some rest and then come back in the afternoon to help clean up.
I went back to my house and crashed for a couple hours- again, waking up intermittedly, moaning. I finally realized I couldn't sleep and got up to watch tv. I then realized the pains were coming quite frequently, so I started writing down the duration. By then, I started calling Eric and was getting no answer. I was a little frustrated because I wanted some reassurance but relieved, too, since this wasn't the real deal.
I finally called the hospital when the contractions were about 6 minutes apart, 30 seconds long. Some nurse told me not to worry because they needed to be a minute long. I called back when they were 4 minutes apart and 45 seconds long and they decided I should come in to get checked out (duh).
During the contractions, I took a shower, packed a bag and would sit on the couch inbetween. They weren't that strong so I was able to talk and move about, sort of freely. I finally got ahold of Eric as I was headed out the door and yelled at him, "You need to have your cell phone on you at all times! What if I was really in labor?! Meet me at the hospital." So I drove myself to the hospital- about 15 minutes away.
Eric and I went in around 5:30pm, I got hooked up to a machine and I waited. After a while, a nurse came in to tell me they were going to put me on magnesium to stop the labor and I asked, "So I'm really in labor?" She said, "Oh, honey. You don't know what's going on, do you?"
After a lot of pain and time, they offered me a drug that made me feel drunk and I HATED! Finally, they took me off the mag. and offered me an epidural at 2am which I excitedly accepted.
Four hours of interrupted sleep later, they woke me at 6am to start pushing. Since we hadn't yet gone to the birthing class, I had no idea what I was doing. The nurses were very kind and showed me what to do. Without feeling a thing, thanks to the epidural, I pushed for 15 minutes and out came Calvin David (with help from that stupid knife)- 6lbs; 3oz. He was perfectly tiny and we got to take him home the next day.
