Ready Or Not, Here She Comes! (Part 1)

I need to get this written down, before I forget any more of it.

This is the story of how Katelynn Claire Jones made her appearance in this world.

My due date was August 13, 2014. I didn't get paid maternity leave from my job so I knew I needed to work as long as possible. I set my last day of work to be Friday August 1. I planned on using the following week to wash and organize baby clothes, do my own laundry, and rest.

It has to be said that the weeks leading up to my last day of work were tiring and occasionally difficult. The second week of July Earl and I made a trip to triage at the hospital because I'd been having bad cramps. Turns out I was having contractions 5-6 minutes apart. I wasn't progressing, so they sent us home. The next few days I noticed changes in my body and I seriously began to doubt whether or not I would be able to continue working. I very strongly believed that I wasn't going to make it to my due date.

So, back to my last day of work. I made it! I was so tired, swollen, and uncomfortable. But I finished! I went home and celebrated by putting my feet up and not moving. Earl and I had planned on seeing "Guardians of the Galaxy" on Saturday and we were looking forward to it.

Saturday dawned and I woke up about 7am. I awoke to contractions, but this was nothing new to me. I'd been having irregular contractions for the last 2-3 weeks. They eventually stopped so I didn't think about them again. So I got up and went about having breakfast and treating myself to a (terrible) haircut and (wonderful) pedicure. This was my "last hurrah" of sorts, plus I wanted pretty feet at the hospital. Soon as I got home from my pedicure, Earl and I headed off to the movies. During the movie I started having contractions again. Still irregular and highly annoying. But each time one started, I would squeeze Earl's hand and try to focus on the movie.

We headed off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond when the movie got out. Did a little shopping, and a lot of wandering around. I had noticed some bright red spotting after the movie, but didn't stress over it as it wasn't a ton. Figured it was part of the process of getting closer to term.

When we got home Earl got ready for work and I just chilled on the sofa. The contractions were still off and on, not worth timing as they would stop and start. Not once throughout the day did I honestly think I was in labor. I was only 38 weeks and my doctor had been pretty confident I would go to 40 weeks.

As the evening progressed, the contractions were still erratic but weren't stopping. So round about 830 pm I started to time them. Each lasted about a minute, but they were anywhere from 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 minutes apart. I wasn't in a regular pattern and so I still believed that I wasn't in labor. I even stopped timing them because they were so irregular.

I was tired and annoyed by the time Earl got home from work so I took 2 Tylenol PM to help me sleep.

I didn't sleep.

I continued having contractions and eventually got to the point that I couldn't lay down, I was too uncomfortable. I was sitting up in bed and Earl finally asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to go to the hospital. So I threw a few last minute things into my suitcase that was mostly packed and we headed out the door.

I told Earl that we would leave the suitcase in the car just in case they sent us back home. He didn't believe I was in labor either.

So we got checked in at triage and I was dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced. Sure enough I was contracting about 5 minutes. It felt to me that the contractions were coming closer together and were getting stronger. After an hour my nurse came back to check me and I was still at 3 cm. I cried. I was in more pain and I didn't want to go home. So we talked with my nurse and she said she would check me again in 30 minutes. If at that point I hadn't progressed further, I would be sent home.

I told Earl over and over again that I didn't want to go home.

Those 30 minutes dragged on and on and on.

When my nurse returned, I was now at 5 cm!! In 1 hour my body hadn't done squat but when push came to shove, I dilated 2 cm in 30 minutes! Things were happening now. No turning back. This baby was coming!

...To be Continued...