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.
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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.
