If you haven’t read Part 1, you should probably start there!
After all the stress of the previous few days and our decision to induce the following week, I was determined to have a nice relaxing weekend. On Saturday August 4, Jose and I went to lunch and then an afternoon showing of The Dark Knight Rises — which turned out to be our last movie date for months!
Sunday morning was a little overcast, with typical summer thunderstorms dotting the radar. I woke up around 8:30 and — without going into too much detail — noticed that things were different. Not so different that I thought I was in labor, but different enough that I thought, well, maybe things are close? Maybe she’ll arrive before I get induced?
Jose was working on his instrument rating (for his pilot’s license) and had a lesson scheduled that morning with his instructor, so he headed to the airport while I bummed around the house. At some point that morning, I heard my phone ding and saw a text message from my brother…announcing the birth of my nephew!
I was immediately both super excited and really worried — Lucas wasn’t due until the end of September, so I was definitely not expecting that text for several more weeks! On top of that, I knew that my brother was in Pennsylvania with my parents for my grandmother’s funeral the next day. I texted Brian and called my mom and quickly got the whole story.
Cindy’s water had broken at 3 a.m. My brother David, who had stayed in Charlotte because of work, took Cindy and Danny (my other nephew) to the hospital and Cindy managed to get ahold of Brian in Pennsylvania. Brian immediately bought a plane ticket, and Dad drove him the hour to Baltimore, where he promptly got on a plane, flew back to Charlotte, took a taxi to the hospital…and Lucas was born just before 11:00 a.m.
CRAZY.
Fortunately Lucas was doing really well for being so early, and I sent Brian the following text: “Lucas and Baby R will be only a few days apart!” Or…less than 24 hours apart, as it turned out.
Jose came home from flying and hadn’t actually gone — the scattered thunderstorms were being difficult and he didn’t want to risk flying somewhere and not being able to come back to Pearland because of storms. He apparently told his flight instructor something like: “I know this sounds crazy, but I feel like my baby is going to come today.”
From the minor comments I’d made that morning about things feeling different, Jose suspected Emma was on her way. Basically, Jose had a feeling I was in labor before I did. Yeah. Try to make sense of THAT.
When he got home, we went out to get some lunch at Pei Wei. As we walked in the door, I felt another trickle. This had happened 3 or 4 times since I got up that morning, and it’s what made me think things were different — but I’d heard too many stories about women going to the hospital thinking their water had broken only to be told that they peed themselves. I did not want that to be me! And besides, when your water breaks, doesn’t it all gush out? Like in the movies?
No. As it turns out, it does not always gush out. It can trickle out. And finally, sitting there in Pei Wei waiting for our noodles, it occurred to me that maybe my water HAD broken.
Jose quickly asked the waiter to pack up our order to go, and back in the car we went. I called my doctor on the way home, but it was a Sunday so it was automatically sent to the answering service. If you tell them you’re not sure whether your water has broken, there’s obviously no way for them to assess that over the phone — and so we were told to go to the hospital.
I remember being on the phone with them while Jose stopped for gas. We got home around 2:00 and I grabbed my bag, which I’d mostly packed earlier. I added last minute items like my glasses and phone…and then I sat down at the counter and ate my Pei Wei! I was not about to risk going to the hospital without eating lunch first!!
Jose took this picture of me in the hall right before we walked out the door for the last time as a family of two. By 3:00, we were knocking on the door to the labor and delivery ward. I walked right in as if it were any other day. Aside from the possible water breaking, I’d had very mild cramps on and off that day — but so minor that if I hadn’t been pregnant, I wouldn’t have thought anything of them.
I thought it would be a quick check to see whether my water had broken or not, but I underestimated the healthcare system. Before anything could happen, I spent a while giving my information and filling out forms! Finally around 4:00 they got to work, and by 4:30 the test result came back.
My water had broken. We were going to have a baby — soon!
To be continued…
Love the blog re-design! It looks great.
My water broke also, but it was extremely obvious in my case – more of the gush variety. We didn’t have to have a test, but I was also 5 cm by the time we got to the hospital.
Did you pre-register at the hospital? My hospital had pre-registration, so there was no form-filling-out.
They had said the previous week at my ultrasounds that I was on the low side of amniotic fluid, so in retrospect, perhaps it’s not surprising that mine was more of a trickle than a gush. That didn’t occur to me at the time though!
I did preregister but that didn’t seem to actually do anything. I still had to give them a ton of info. :-/