On Wednesday, Aug 18th 2010 (one day overdue) Marshall, Mdx, and I were taking our daily walk around Target. You may laugh, but that's not really an exaggeration! We were living in the Bayview Tower TLF (Temporary Living Facility) on base because we had moved out of our rental house a week and a half before. Now, WHY in the world would a family with a woman almost ready to deliver a baby move into TLF?? Truly, it was our best option. Marshall was heading to Korea Labor Day weekend, and I was moving down to NC to stay with family until we joined him. I didn't want the stress of having the movers and everything crazy with a newborn baby, so we got permission to live in TLF for almost a month so that we could be moved out, deliver the baby, have some time to recover, and then leave. We were so thankful that Langley TLF was understanding and extra accommodating! So anyway- back to Target. If you've ever lived in a TLF you know what I'm talking about here- you quickly become tired of flipping the AFN channels, staring at each other, and riding the elevator for fun. Not that we would ever do that.
We made a few videos just for fun:
We also got many hours of playground time (mostly Marshall and Mdx)
So, with Target a few minutes down the road and a kid who loves shopping carts and popcorn- you get the idea! Every day those poor red shirted employees watched me dig through the dollar section and mutter generally rude things under my breath about organization and rednecks not putting things back. They may or may not have had to draw straws to see who was going to have to clean up the mess when my water broke, after daily watching me waddle through the door. I think on this particular day we made a few laps around, when I started to feel the difference between real contractions and Braxton Hicks contractions.
I knew my body was preparing to deliver for a few reasons. The baby had dropped LONG ago and was engaged. With every step I could feel his bowling ball of a head (as I imagined it, because Marshall's head is huge) knocking on the door. I also had been at least 3cm dilated for weeks. My body had "cleaned itself out" over the last day, which is definitely a sign (sorry folks, but it's the truth!) I knew second babies generally come faster than first babies, and Mdx's labor was about 8 hours, so once labor started, I shouldn't dilly dally. Still, the contractions were really not too bad. Stomach tightening, back definitely hurting, but manageable. I could still carry on a conversation but every seven minutes or so I got this look like I was thinking really hard about buying that spiky blue ball that goes in the dryer.
After timing contractions for around 30 minutes (7 to 6 minutes apart) I told Marshall that I thought we should go back to the hotel and see if they stop or continue. He agreed, so we got into the car and headed back. Having contractions sitting in a car is not fun....it's an awful position for the pelvis to be in with all that extra stuff going on down there. By the time we arrived back on base I couldn't walk during a contraction, I had to stand still. So I stood still in the parking lot, then in the lobby, then on the elevator, then in the hallway, and finally safely back in our TLF. The contractions seemed to be closer together, and once I began timing them we saw that they were now 6 minutes apart consistently. Time to start making some plans!!
Marshall called our friend Jamie who had offered to keep Mdx for us whenever it was time to go to the hospital. Jamie was so thoughtful and would check in with me before going out and doing anything, to make sure that I knew she would be just a phone call away. Coincidentally, Aug 18th was also Jamie's birthday! She lived in the neighborhood right next to TLF, so it was a quick trip for Marshall to gather Mdx's things and run her over. Mdx was really excited about getting to sleep at Miss Jamie's house, she didn't even notice anything was going on with me!
While Marshall was gone I called my doula Heather (more about her later!) and let her know what was going on. She was at a sewing party with some friends, and told me I should probably call the midwife and let her know I was in labor, and then call her back and tell her what she says. So I called the Midwifery Center, and was pleasantly surprised to have my favorite midwife Tara answer the phone! The Midwifery Center at DePaul is a birth center that is inside a hospital, staffed by Certified Nurse Midwives, who are assisted (when necessary) by OBs. (I'll write another post about my new views on birth....) I had received all my prenatal care there, and gotten to know the four midwives pretty well. I was THRILLED to be able to birth there.
Tara talked to me on the phone, assessed the situation, and recommended that we head over to Norfolk sooner rather than later, since sometimes tunnel traffic could be bad. She said she already had one woman laboring there, so she'd already be there for the night! I hung up the phone and called Heather back. The first words out of my mouth were "You are going to hate me....."- I felt bad that she was going to have to leave her sewing party- but she was stoked to know that it was GO time! She didn't mind one bit, this is what we'd been preparing for all this time! I started gathering all our stuff so that when Marshall got back and Heather arrived we'd be ready to go.
....more to come as the essay continues......
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