catnip and coffee

I have a memory lapse. It happened five years ago today. It was when we were still living in Virgina, without any other family around. Just dh and I. I know that I went to work all day. I’m guessing I went out to lunch, probably had kung pao as it was all I could keep down. I’m guessing certain I waddled about, when I moved much at all. I most definitely had cankles. You guessed where I’m going with this didn’t you? Because, really, what’s a mommy blog without a birth story??

It was a day like any other in my pregnancy, all blurred together with the constant nausea and the lack of sleep. Whoever tells you to get your sleep while you’re still pregnant has clearly never experienced it and should not be listened to. Between the charley horses, the achy hips, the kicking, the pressing on the bladder…. Anyway, I know I went to bed early that night, because we were already comfy and checking the news when we saw coverage of the first bombs striking. Not surprisingly, dh made plans to go back to the office to cover the war, a journalist is always working you know. Except, of course, when his wife goes into an untimely labor.

At some point I know I fell asleep because something woke me with a start around 10:00pm. Oops. I clearly remember that feeling and the primal instinct to run for the bathroom. No mistake about it. My water broke, ten days early.

My boss actually didn’t believe me when I called to tell her I wouldn’t be at work the next day. See, all my coworkers and I had long joked that I would have the baby on the day the war started. We all knew the bombs would fall at some point, and since I worked with a bunch of military history geeks experts, it was naturally, a pretty funny joke. Until it wasn’t a joke. It still kind of irritates me that I can’t remember my son’s birth without thinking about this effing war. But I digress.

Of course, dh did not go to work after all, and sometime soon after we headed for the hospital. See, I can’t really remember much of anything, but I’m sure that was before midnight. I was one tired mommy to be, after a full day’s work and no sleep. Not the best way to start labor. And did you know, once your water breaks, the kid has to come out within 24 hours? So there would be no rest for the weary.
to be continued tomorrow….