LIFE WITH THE WARDRIPS: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: Corinne's Birth Day!

Before I jump right in to the birth story, I have to back up a little bit...

Once May finally arrived, I started to get excited about the nearness of Baby's birth! On May 1st, Keira and I made a paper chain to count down the days until the baby's arrival. May 21st was our target date since that's when my c-section was scheduled for. So, each morning, Keira got to cut off one piece of the chain as we counted down the days!

Fast-forward to May 17th. It was a Friday and Daddy was gone for work and immediately afterward was flying to Davis to celebrate Aunt Laura's graduation the next day. Also the next day, Grammy was due in on Amtrak to help us get ready for the baby's arrival. So, this particular day was my last day to hangout with Keira one-on-one, just Mommy & Daughter. We made the most of our special day together!

Mani-pedi time!

Playing The Ladybug Game, one of our favorites!

Special dinner out at Rubio's--YUM!

As the day went on, I started to notice some fairly intense Braxton-Hicks contractions. The contractions made my stomach really tight and they were sort of uncomfortable. They definitely did not come at regular intervals though, so I didn't think much of them. I checked my pregnancy book that night and read up on Braxton-Hicks and found that they could be painful, but if they weren't coming at regular intervals, it probably wasn't true labor. So, I felt good about that information and went to bed and wasn't disturbed by the contractions at all during the night.

Saturday, May 18th

Noah was in Davis and got up bright and early to attend Laura's graduation. We knew way early on the date of her graduation and, although it was close to my due date (May 26th), we figured it would be fine for him to attend the festivities and have plenty of time to get back before the baby's birth. Ha!

The happy graduate!

Congratulations, Laura!

That was A LOT of hard work!

Great picture of Mom and her kids!

I love these people!

Back at home, Keira and I were invited to the Sterling's to eat pancakes for breakfast. Sweet Mackenzie, always looking out for me, invited us because she knew I'd have the whole day to get through by myself before my mom came into town at 5pm. We happily accepted the invitation!

The pancake chefs!

Breakfast fun (Matthew was visiting too!)!

Delicious pancakes with blueberries and bananas!

During our morning at the Sterlings, I was noticing more Braxton-Hicks contractions and they were feeling more and more uncomfortable. They were still irregular, but once they came on, I definitely took notice and had to readjust my position to try to ease the pain (it didn't work though!).

We got home from the Sterlings and just hung around at home. I think I sat on the couch to rest and Keira and I watched a show together. I probably even dozed off a little! I think it was sometime around 2pm when I noticed my contractions were quite uncomfortable and it seemed that they were even coming more regularly. Once I started to take notice of them, especially their frequency, the thought finally crossed my mind, "Am I in labor???"

At that point, I started to make phone calls. I'm not sure who I called first: the doctor or Noah (I'm pretty sure it was the doctor). Once I realized I should probably call the doctor, I tried to put it off because I wasn't ready to be in labor with Noah gone and none of our preparations finished! Despite my best efforts at avoidance, the contractions just kept coming. I got in touch with the on-call doctor at the hospital and PRAISE THE LORD, it was MY doctor! She said to take it easy, lay down, and see if they would go away in the next hour or so. If not, she said to call back.

Next, I called Noah. He was in the middle of "Laura Fest"--hanging out with family and friends and celebrating Laura's graduation in his mom's backyard. As soon as he answered his phone he said, "You're not in labor, are you?" My response, "Ummm, I might be actually." I explained about my contractions and relayed what the doctor said. At that point, he got off the phone and quickly started packing his suitcase and started looking for an earlier flight home. At this point, it was around 4pm and his original flight wasn't due in to SD until around 9pm. It turned out that there was a flight at 5pm, but with packing and driving to the airport, it was impossible to make the earlier flight, so the only other option was to stick with his original flight.

I think my next call was to my mom. She was en route to San Diego on Amtrak and Keira and I were supposed to pick her up at 5pm at the Solana Beach Station. It turned out that one of her connections was late and she wouldn't be getting in until around 6pm or after. I told her the situation and her response (which was actually the same as Noah's): "Can you wait until I get there??"

At this point, I was starting to get a little stressed. How was I going to pick up my mom if I was in labor? What was I going to do with Keira? What if the Baby came before Noah got home?

Keira was getting antsy because I had been making so many phone calls (and was probably pacing around the floor). I stopped for a few minutes and explained the situation to her. I said, "I think this baby might want to come today!" She said, "But who is going to feed me dinner?" :)

Next, I called Mackenzie and basically said, "HELP!" She was down in North Park or somewhere far away at a birthday party. She drove to my house and picked up Keira and took her back to the birthday party. This helped tremendously because I was able to lay on the couch and relax and wrap my mind around what was happening. Despite resting, the contractions did not stop.

Next, I called Chika and asked if she could pick up my mom from the train station and bring her to my house. Thankfully, she was available and could easily pick up my mom. I called the doctor again since an hour had passed and the contractions had not stopped. She said I was right on the verge of needing to stay home and needing to come in. She said she didn't want me to come in yet, but to just keep track of things. If the contractions got more intense or closer together, so said to come in. And she said not to eat anything just in case!

At this point, Chika arrived with my mom. What a relief! A few minutes later, Mackenzie arrived and brought Keira back from the birthday party they had been at. Keira was a little out of sorts with all that was going on, but she was hanging in there. By this time, it was probably somewhere around 6:45-7pm. I had been writing down the timing of my contractions and at this point they were coming on anywhere from every 10 minutes apart to 7 minutes apart. I finally decided it was time to head to the hospital! I gave Keira a hug and kiss and my mom took over and started putting her to bed. Chika helped with Keira too and then headed home and Mackenzie offered to drive me to the hospital.

One last pic of our baby bumps before heading to the hospital!

Wow, that is one big baby belly!

We got to the hospital and I checked in at Labor & Delivery.

They had me put on a gown and got me hooked up to the machines to start monitoring contractions and the baby's heart rate.

Excited that this baby might be coming tonight!

Dr. G came in and checked my cervix and she said I was dilated 3-4cm and with the contractions coming steadily, I was in true labor! She said, "I think this baby is coming tonight!!" With that, she gave the nurses the go ahead to get me prepped for surgery!

Here I am texting Noah!

His flight had landed in SD and he was getting ready to drive to the hospital!

He made it just in the nick of time (somewhere around 9:30pm)!

We're both all prepped and ready for surgery!

Let's go meet this baby!

Getting wheeled to the OR.

Noah had to wait outside while they put in my spinal block and got me all ready to start the surgery.

This picture is meaningful to me because I had such peace as I made my way into the OR. It was a TOTALLY different experience this time around, to walk in and get myself up on the table. I wasn't fearful at all (THANK YOU, LORD!) and was excited to take everything in.