The contractions kept on coming like clock work but I forced myself to stay in bed till 8:30am and not get my hopes up too much. I called my Mom to tell her what was going on but to keep things hush hush in case things didn't continue to progress. I got up, showered, went over to my sister-in-law's house so she could give me "labor hair" (gorgeous french braids gathered and pinned to my head in an elegant mess). My mother-in-law made us breakfast. My mom dropped by a birthday cake and Jamba Juice for Brett and me.
At around 10:30 am, twelve hours after they had started, the contractions stalled. I still felt little pangs through the day, but nothing regular that I even felt the need to time. I went for a walk, bounced around on my birthing ball, took my homeopathics. Nothing.
Brett jokes that we got "Jimmered by the baby." It's true, it was the ultimate fake out. By the evening I realized it was my birthday and I didn't have anything planned because I was planning to be in labor. We went over to my mom's house to decide what to do. My mom and Brett suggested all sorts of activities: a drive-in movie, chocolate fondue, going to the park, swimming, a barbecue, an outdoor concert. Each suggestion fell flat. Nothing sounded fun.
This is when I told Brett, while smiling, "Do you think I can just cry? I think I just need to cry."
He smiled and said, "I think that would be good. Do you want me to hold you?"
"Yes." I curled up with Brett on the couch and just like that the tears came.
"I woke up this morning thinking I was going to have a baby. How can I plan any activity for my birthday that can remotely compare to that?"
He agreed. So I cried for a good five minutes.
Finally, my Mom said, "It's true, nothing will compare. But lets just go and do something."
So we went and got frozen yogurt at Top It.
Just as we were scraping the bottom of our cups from Top It, my brother called and invited us to go get a dole whip (whipped pineapple frozen yogurt) from Farr's. We figured we may as well go for round two.
I ended up having a really enjoyable evening visiting with my family. After our double course of dessert we decided it would be a good idea to eat dinner. We ate at Outback Steakhouse and told stories and laughed. And at the end of the night they brought me a birthday dessert.
Three rounds of dessert can't make up for not having a baby. But it certainly didn't hurt.
2 comments:
I'm so glad you wrote all this down. Quite the story, Haley, and it's refreshing how honest you are. Even though I know the last thing you want right now is pity... I'll still say I'm sorry that you got so close and it didn't happen. I wish you were here and Ryan could do some OMM (osteopathic manipulative treatments) on you! It's another natural way to get your body to go into labor. Good luck! Hang in there.
Thanks Jamie! :)
Post a Comment