A special guest post from DallasMama Jen. You can read more of her work at here.
It was a typical “end of pregnancy” day when you’re running around trying to get any and all errands finished before baby’s arrival. There was even a midwife appointment in there where she told me, “Well, it could be today or it could be next week.” I had “next week” in my mind because my due date was still twelve days away. I ended the day of errands watching a movie with a friend, crawling into bed at midnight.
Two hours later I woke up shocked. “These are not Braxton Hicks contractions,” I thought to myself. I carefully eased out of bed so as not to wake my sleeping husband (yet). However, after two hours of calculated breathing, I decided it was time to let him know this baby was on its way. “Let me hold you,” he said. Obviously, the reality of the situation didn’t hit him until I said, “No, I’m in labor!” “Oh. OH!”
The timeline of events after that are a bit of a blur. I know there was a warm bath and a call into the midwife. Let me just stop here and say that I am a pretty calm, even keel person. That’s a good thing for your midwife to know, because after talking to me on the phone, she felt I wasn’t quite ready to go to the hospital and sent me to the clinic (opposite way of the hospital) to get checked out.
Do you see where this is going? It seemed as if the intensity of contractions doubled about halfway to the clinic, and I knew that even if we turned around that instant, we wouldn’t make it to the hospital. We arrived at the clinic at about ten after ten in the morning. A quick check, and the midwife announced that I was having that baby right there! Thankfully, she was a take charge person. Unthankfully, they had never delivered a baby in that office and didn’t have the proper materials. Let’s just say that the longest pair of scissors they had didn’t break my water.
A quick push, water splashed on the floor, and a beautiful baby girl was born ten minutes after arrival. “Happy Birthday, babe,” I said to my husband. Tears flowed. With the commotion of events, it was forgotten that it was his birthday. His unforgettable, best gift ever was in his arms, Emma Grace.
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