The Story, Part One

I'm certain I will not have time to write the complete story of Tobin's birth in one sitting, but little by little, I'll get it out. :)

On Saturday afternoon, I was planning to take a nap while the boys slept; but about 1:30 p.m., Jeff had a customer that didn't show up for his appointment so Jeff took the opportunity to call me just to see how things were going. On my way to answer the phone, my water broke. (Although, because it's never happened to me that way before, I wasn't exactly sure if that was really it or not because it didn't all gush out at once, so I told Jeff, "I think my water just broke, but I'm not really sure!")

After that, I talked to the midwife, Barbara; and that's when she said I could wait at home for a while to see what would happen. I remember asking her, "Do you think I should lie down and try to get some rest or stay active?" And she answered by predicting that things would move along fairly quickly, and she didn't think I'd have time for a nap. She was right. :)

My parents were in town that afternoon, doing some shopping, so I called them and told them what was going on, just to keep them updated. But I urged them to go ahead with their plans: "You can still go to Costco; don't worry about coming home yet." They didn't follow my advice, but instead came home fairly quickly, arriving about 2:10 p.m. They were right. :)

Jeff cancelled his last few appointments of the day and got home around 2:15 p.m. I took a shower, and my parents and Jeff were busy talking about arrangements for transportation, childcare details for Josiah and David, etc. By this time, I was starting to notice some contractions; but they weren't difficult at all...no worse than the many contractions I had in the lead-up to Saturday. But for some reason, I was starting to have a mild sense of urgency about getting in to the hospital--and my dad was beginning to have a much stronger sense of urgency about it! :) I really wasn't planning to go to the hospital that early at all, but as it turned out, it was perfect timing. Around 3:00 p.m. we left here for the 10-15 minute drive to the hospital.

Before we left, I jotted down a few of my thoughts:
~ Jeff had been short-staffed at work recently and had a "help wanted" sign posted for a while...on Thursday, a woman had come in, inquiring about a job; and she was very qualified and had actually started working on Friday...things were going so well with her, and the timing couldn't have been better as far as her being available to cover some of the gap left by Jeff taking off work
~ a year ago on January 12, my brother Doug's mother-in-law, Marie, died from a brain tumor...and now on this year, our baby was apparently about to be born (when I was first thinking about this)...an interesting juxtaposition...earlier in the day on Saturday, Josiah and I had been talking about the cycle of life, and how someday, when he has children, Jeff and I will be grandparents--and then someday, when Josiah's children have children, Josiah will be a grandpa, etc...to have had that conversation, and then be reminded so forcefully about the cycle of life, was very interesting to me
~ the last food and drink I had before leaving home for the hospital was salt & vinegar potato chips and sweet, cold mint tea--a great pregnancy combo, kind of like pickles and ice cream :)

Since we went to the hospital in my parents' car (so my dad would have the minivan with the car seats to bring Josiah and David to the hospital later), my mother drove; and I sat on a seat covered with plastic and a towel, since I was still leaking amniotic fluid--a strange sensation. :) The day was sunny, beautiful, and warm for January. It was the first time I have ever made that all-significant trip to the hospital during daylight hours; and I was amazed that people were out and about, going about their business, completely unaware that I was going to the hospital TO HAVE A BABY!!! :)

More later...