Thursday, November 13, 2003

The anatomy of labor

Hello!

So here I go with my labor story. The pictures are of Amber (my boss) and Gabby holding Aiden, my usual view of him, Tobin sleeping (SO precious!) and Grandma Linda and baby- I think that glow to the right is just extra coming from her. :)

5:00-ish: I go to get my membranes swept (a process a bit like if there was a balloon blown up inside another, and keeping them un-stuck, only the respective balloons would be the placenta and uterus) because it usually helps encourage labor within 1-3 days, and we were set to pick Randal up Wednesday morning. I start having really light contractions immediately.

5:30: I call Genery (my best friend, who lives in Mountain View- about an hour 1/2 away) and tell her to keep her phone available because I'll probably be in labor within the next day.

6:15: I pick Tara up from the airporter, and am having light contractions about three minutes apart. She gets in, and I say, "Well, I think I'm probably in labor, so we should probably go to the house and get some stuff before I go to the birthing center."

6:30: Ray & Linda are back at the house, waiting for me to come back home and take them to my parents' house to have dinner, which I do.

6:45: I have my first contraction I need to sit down for. I had already arranged for them to keep Tobin there so I could spend some time with Tara, so we both go home.

7:15: Amy & Sean come over to hang out, too. In that 15 minutes, I go from "Hmm- yeah, this is probably labor" to "Ouuuuuuuuuch. Ouuuuuuuuuuuuch." leaning over on the counter. 

7:20: I call the midwife, Genery (again) and Randal. (well, the Ombudsman in charge of calling the boat, since there's no line for the public to call on)

7:25 The midwife calls back and says she's with someone at the hospital who is ready to push, so she wants to check her out, and will call me back.

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