8 Years Ago

Eight years ago today, when I was about 38 weeks pregnant with Josh, I was having a lot of strong contractions. They weren't very painful, but still long, frequent, and consistent. I had experienced contractions like this before and had even gone to the hospital to get checked. After a lecture from the dr. (not my OB) about how to know when you're in labor, I came home very discouraged. Now here they were again. This day however was my 2nd anniversary and there was no way I was going to ruin our day with another trip to the hospital for the joy of another lecture. I was too proud and wasn't going to budge. My mother and Matt were both encouraging me to go, but I didn't want to. (Beautiful submission, eh?) So even though the contractions would sometimes take my breath away, I stubbornly continued to get ready for our date that night.

Finally, Matt and Mom convinced me that I could get checked before we went to the restaurant. Jennifer (Trent) Lowe came to babysit early - what a sweetie. I Packed a bag - not because I thought I was going to deliver, but simply because I was 38 weeks and it was good to have one ready - and we called the Dr. The office was closed already so they sent us on the hospital.

When I got the hospital (we didn't even take the bag in with us) the nurses laughed at me and told me to go on to the restaurant. They said if I wasn't in pain, I wasn't in labor. Well, Matt and I decided to stay and get checked anyway. My Dr. came over since her office was right beside the hospital, checked me and said, "Well, girlie, we're having a baby!" Within 25 minutes the painless contractions had turned into very painful ones and after about 20 more minutes I was holding our second baby boy, Joshua.

When the nurse asked us if we wanted to take a picture of him before his bath, we realized that hadn't even brought our suitcase in yet! We didn't have a camera in the room! Well, we didn't make to the restaurant for our anniversary dinner, but what a wonderful anniversary gift.