There are a few events that change your life forever. And sometimes the moments leading up to them are clearer and maybe it's because after the life-changing event, you are in a total daze. For me, one of those was the night before I had my daughter, Madolyn.
I have no idea what I had been doing that day or anything in particular about the day, but I am guessing I went to work just like any other day. I wasn't due until August 26, which happened to be our five-year anniversary, but I had begun going to the doctor weekly and he said I was dilated and progressing and could go just about anytime. Of course, my knowledge on this subject was nil. I really had no clue about the whole labor process, before, during or after...but for the little we learned in our labor classes. None of our close friends from home had children yet, we were living in Lville at the time and had two couples we were friends with through church that gave us a little insight. All in all, we were still pretty clueless. Ignorance is bliss.
Sometime later in the evening, our friend (we'll call Josh) called to chat it up with Jay. He didn't live close by anymore but we'd remained friends and occasionally he and Jay would talk on the phone. I think it was around 9:00 when the call came in. I honestly can't remember what I was doing, but Jay was lying on our bed talking to his buddy on the phone. I was starting to feel kinda funny and wondering what the achy-dull-crampy-pain in my lower back was from. I thought at first I was just tired and worn out from carrying around the extra weight. I had continued walking daily, which was good for me in many ways, but as with most nine-month-pregnant women, I still had quite a load.
Then I started having this strange tightening sensation in my belly that kinda coincided with the achy-dull-crampy-pain in my lower back. It didn't exactly hurt or take my breath away, but it was slightly uncomfortable. Hmm, that's weird. I decided to paint my toe nails. So as Jay and Josh talked away on the bed, I got down on the floor to work on reaching my toes, which I know you can visualize. But for some reason, I had this thought in the back of my head that if I would go into labor, my toenails had to be painted. I inherited the Quackdaddy's feet and our toes are not that pretty. Anything I could do to cover the ugliness of my toes was a good thing.
At some point it dawned on me that these strange tightening sensations in my belly that kinda coincided with the achy-dull-crampy-pain in my lower back were now coming in pretty steady intervals. Crazy. What is going on? Jay and his pal continued to talk and laugh. It was nearing 10 p.m. I felt tired, but I was wide awake and curious to hear Jay's rundown of his conversation with Josh because Josh was single and was always doing something kinda exciting. I had grown up with him too and was always interested in whether he was dating anyone in particular. But these very odd things were happening within my body and suddenly I figured out that maybe I was in labor.
I got Jay's attention and told him that I thought I might possibly be having contractions and that they were coming quicker each time, I needed to use the phone to call the hospital to see what they suggested. He gave me that look like why-are-you-just-now-telling-me (which I have seen several times) and told Josh he had to go. F-i-n-a-l-l-y.
We lived in Lville at the time which was 25 minutes from Robinson and the hospital. So I put a call in to the hospital and they agreed that I should probably come in and come in quick. We loaded up and off we went. I made it in time to receive the coveted epidural, which had been my goal (and in reality was actually pretty awful). Madolyn arrived the next morning around 7 a.m., I think. (Is it terrible that I don't have the exact time etched in memory?) She was a chubby, healthy baby covered in hair, lots and lots of dark hair...looked somewhat like a sumo wrestler...which is exactly what I looked like when I was born. I can remember the nurse washing the white gunk out of her thick hair in the sink of my room with that yellow Dial soap and I have never forgotten that scent. Ugh. Nurses from all over the hospital came to our room to see "that baby with all the dark hair." Too funny.
That was just the beginning of the life and times of Madolyn, one of those life-changing events that you never forget. She was a complete angel in the hospital...that is until we loaded her up to take her home. Wowza. She has been a firecracker since, and I know some day she'll make an amazing young lady...we just have to live through it :)
1 comment:
AWWW!!
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