**Warning**
Some of the info contained in these particular blog entries may or may not be t.m.i. or completely uninteresting to you, the reader. I'm simply trying to write everything down so that I can come back to it and read about it when time has robbed me of the little details. With Cassie being our last baby, I really want to cherish every little thing and I'm finding it's going by way too fast!
"Just the facts ma'am." - a little background info...
*I was pregnant. (<-is this funny to anyone else - because I just smirked out loud (s.o.l) Maybe a mildly exhausted, chronically sarcastic mother of 4 shouldn't be blogging)
*Babe was working out of town - staying almost 2 hours away.
*2 out of 3 of my children were born on, or within a day, of their due date.
*My water had broken with all 3 of my previous children so I was kinda waiting for that.
*My due date was November 18th.
*I was seeing the doctor weekly - the same guy that one week told me I was completely effaced/thinned out and 1-2 centimeters dilated and that I was definitely *not* going to make it to my next appointment... only to tell me the next week that I was 80% effaced/thinned out and about 1 1/2 cm. ::blink::blink:: This momma was not amused, but bygones. I love my doctor.
*My membranes were stripped a couple of days before I went into labor.
*I lost some of my m.p. on two different occasions.
*The texting lines between me and my sister and b.f.f. were pipin' hot in anticipation!! I was really trying to be patient... as long as I didn't go too far over the due date I was "O.K." s.o.l
A couple of Facebook postings prior to her birth...
"Tell Cassie to HURRY UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - November 5th, Uncle Bubba
"4:43 a.m. been up for about two hours now... birth is taking place...
just not Cassie's... Ginger is in the process of having her puppies! One
so far... so tiny... black and white... today is gonna be a long day!" - November 9th, Me
"Letting the girls wrestle and squeal and giggle and shriek on the living
room rug... it's probably a good thing they don't know how much effort
it's taking not to toss them up in their rooms... this mama is tired..." - November 10th, Me
"Hey I saw you had puppies.....any baby yet? LOL" - November 13th, Drea
"Ok, so I made some very important plans for Saturday with Kelly!
Think that's enough to coax Cassie into coming so she can completely
mess them up? **fingers crossed** although I'd really like to do the
planned things, too!" - November 17th, Me (The plan was to get pedicures and then go to the movies to watch Breaking Dawn, pt. 1)
I remember glancing at the clock at 3:40-ish on the 18th, but went right back to sleep. I don't remember the exact feel of what woke me, but there was an essence of "oh, that was different." I was awoken again a short while later with the same feeling and with the thought, "Thank God she's coming today... I didn't want to be late!" I got up to go to the bathroom and see if I could clear my head enough to make sense of the "sensations" I was having. There may have been some "show"... that memory is fading, but I do remember that I was highly un-confident of what I was feeling. There were a couple of contractions, but they weren't painful and not very close together.... they were just different.
Text to Babe: approx 4:40a.m. "What time do you have to leave for work?"
Babe: "I have to leave here at 530. Why, what's up? Are you having ctx?"
Me: "I dunno. Something is different. I'm going to wait for a little while and I'll let you know."
Babe: "I'm coming home."
Me: "O.K." The fact that I didn't stop him showed me that I knew it was probably time. I couldn't pinpoint one certain "this-is-it" indicator... the "feeling" was just there.
Me: "O.K." The fact that I didn't stop him showed me that I knew it was probably time. I couldn't pinpoint one certain "this-is-it" indicator... the "feeling" was just there.
I laid down for a little bit around 5 and got some timing in. I was using an app on my phone and they were coming anywhere from 5 to 12 minutes apart. I called my sister when the contractions kept coming, telling her that I wasn't sure it was time, but that I wanted to go in and be checked. She was living 30 minutes away at the time and I felt bad for waking her up, but she was on her way. Not much later, and the contractions picked up a little bit. I'd have a strong one and then a hint of a couple followed by another strong one. It was after a strong one that I texted the Hubs again.
Me: "Where are you?"
Me: "Where are you?"
Babe: "Just getting my things ready to leave."
Me: "Get.in.the.truck.and.drive!!"
I called my mom and let her know I was going to go in and "get checked" and that I'd bring the girls over. I also called the hospital L&D to let them know that I was coming in to "be checked". When they asked how far apart the ctx were, I remember saying 5 to 8 minutes. I woke the girls up and told them the plan to go to Grandma & Poppas so I could go to the hospital and "be checked". I think I was afraid to jinx the whole thing by saying "this is it", even though I knew it probably was.
I remember tooling around the house and getting the girls' things ready while I was explaining and talking to them about what would "probably" be happening. The Hubs called just as Kelly was getting to the house - around 6:15ish- and I told him to meet us at the ER. We dropped the girls off and then headed to the hospital.
to be continued...
