The last few days of this pregnancy had been very different from the previous pregnancies. I had this odd sense of calm, despite being over due, and this sense of awe at how my life could literally change within a few short hours.
Looking at my past labors, I realized that each had been vastly different and knew that anything could happen with the upcoming birth. The odd thing was I had this reoccurring thought that I had never been awakened by contractions in the middle of the night.
Saturday night Kevin and I watched a movie and I spent most of the movie sitting on the couch being very uncomfortable and just wanting to go take a bath or read or something. However, I rarely watch TV with him and it was a big treat so I stayed put. I even had some contractions that were pretty mild. We went to bed shortly before midnight.
At 3:05 a.m. I woke up, I presumed it was my bladder. Again I had that funny thought, 'Was is a contraction that woke me up?' After I laid back down I realized that every few minutes I was waking up to look at the clock. After about an hour I decided to try a bath to stop the contractions so that I could sleep.
The bath felt great but actually intensified the contractions, though they were still very manageable. I started feeling lonely and wanted to wake Kevin up. I wasn't sure it was labor yet, but I figured we could always use the practice at relaxation.
Kevin got up and was great. He did a few things for me and brought me some water and offered me breakfast. He sat at the side of the tub and lovingly poured water over the portion of my belly that didn't fit in the tub. When I got out of the tub the contractions really seemed to pick up in both intensity and in frequency. They jumped to about 2 minutes apart and I was really having to work and concentrate with them.
Kevin wanted to call the midwife, Juliet. I was concerned that it would be another false alarm and that everyone would be wasting their time. Juliet didn't seem to care when Kevin called her and she said she'd take her time.
That sent us into a flurry of action, knowing we had some last minute things to do. Then Kevin put on our nice music, lit the candles and we sat in the bedroom alone. He rubbed my back and whispered nice things to me. I felt very cared for and special. I wasn't fearful or worried as I had thought I might be.
Photo © Robin Elise Weiss
