So I realize it may be overkill, this writing of a PRE-birth story, but yet here I am writing it. I want to remember as much about the last few days as possible, so I’m starting at what feels like the beginning to me. I guess I could call it part 1, but either way, here we go!

I was supposed to be induced Thursday, the morning of May 15. I had accepted it and was excited. Wednesday night we grabbed dinner with family and cheersed (with a few sips of real wine!!- a friend said a few sips had helped her go into labor) to our last dinner as a family of 3.

I carb loaded on pasta, secretly hoping that spicy tomato sauce, the night’s full moon and the storm front moving in would put me into labor on my own.

No such luck.

I slept horribly that night. I woke up to listen to the thunder and willing my water to break. David’s alarm went off at 5:45 and he hopped in the shower. I took my time opening my eyes as the butterflies started kicking in… though I might not have chosen it, we were going to meet our baby girl today! I rolled over to turn off my phone alarm and saw I had a missed call from the hospital.

I secretly hoped they were calling to remind me to come in, but my gut knew better. Sure enough, Debbie the nurse was calling to say that all the labor and delivery rooms were full. Overnight the storms and moon had put so many women into labor that they had to put my induction on hold and I should call back at 9:00am. Tears flowed.

The rain was still pouring down and we all went out to grab breakfast to pass the time. We called the hospital at 8:00am, to which they asked us to call back at 10:00am. After breakfast, it was 10:00 and instead of calling, I insisted we just show up. We drove to the hospital and walked into labor and delivery. The nurses all looked at us. Clearly I was not in active labor, judging by my nervous smile, and once I gave my name and the staff knew I was the scheduled induction, we were turned away. No room at the inn.

We were sent over to my doctor’s practice where they gave baby girl a non-stress test. The great news was she was doing just fine. My doctor stripped my membranes again and said to show up the next morning at the hospital. At this point, I let go. Baby girl was not going to share a birth date (the 15th) with her sister. What a silly thing for me to focus on anyway, right? I feel a bit ridiculous for being so emotional about the delay, but hormones can do some crazy things! We went home and spent the day with family and napping and playing with Hailey and letting the excitement grow.

That night, with the help of my newly found what will be will be attitude, I slept wonderfully.

When the alarm went off the morning of Friday, May 16, I was already up and packing. Ready. Enthusiastic.

The day was unseasonably cool and the sun was starting to come up. It was a gorgeous day to have a baby.

David picked up a large coffee on our way to prepare for the unknown of the day. We arrived were admitted right away and given to a very friendly and sweet nurse, Amy. They hooked me up to fluids (where I reaffirmed my disdain for IVs) and the doctor came in to assess me. 2-3cm dilated. No change. Minimal contraction activity. Baby girl sure was cozy!

The plan was to break my water and start pitocin, but baby girl was still so high up that they couldn’t break my water. I was secretly thrilled about that, so they started a whiff  (what doctors call it when they don’t want to freak out the nervous mommy-to-be) of pitocin to get things moving. The whiff did its job and immediately I was contracting at a steady pace of every two minutes. I could feel them and they were stronger than anything I had felt previously, but they weren’t painful. Baby girl’s heart rate stayed steady in 140’s.

So by 8:00am, the journey had begun! My emotions were scattered somewhere between excitement, relief and jittery with anticipation.

To be continued!