Our sweetheart is here!

It's funny to read my last post, which was written only hours before I felt those first twinges that told me our baby was on her way! I had a funny feeling all week but pushed it to the back of my mind. Just goes to show that your gut feeling is usually right.

On Friday night, as I'd written in my previous post, I wasn't feeling particularly great. Our nextdoor neighbours were having a loud 18th birthday party, and I felt tired but somehow ill at ease. I put it down to the diarrhea and general ugh-ness I'd been feeling all week. I fell asleep at 9:30 and was woken at 10 by T and DH when they came through from the games room talking really loudly. I was not impressed. It took me ages to get back to sleep.

I woke around 1-1:30am and had a really wierd, tight feeling in my abdomen. I really felt like I needed to pee, so I got up and peed. When I went back to bed, my bladder still felt full so I went again then went back to sleep.

I can vaguely remember being woken two or three times by strange sensations in my abdomen. After a while, I thought that I needed to do a poo because I was feeling a bit crampy, and tried to sleep through it to no avail. I probably went and peed about 7 times between 1:30 and 3am.

Somewhere in all of this, I started thinking, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if I was in labour?" However, as the minutes ticked by, it was not seeming such a silly conclusion for me to jump to. The funny feeling became lower back pain. At about 4am I felt that I needed to poo so I went out into the main bathroom (so as not to wake DH) and experienced what I can only describe as my body 'purging' itself. I didn't feel the relief that I thought it would bring and went back again 10 minutes later. This time, there was a definite sign that I was indeed in labour, or at least pre-labour- my mucous plug. I remember just looking at it and feeling very excited.

I went back into the bedroom and DH stirred as I opened the door. He sleepily said, "Are you okay, baby?" I said, "I don't want to scare you, but we're having a baby". He said, "Really? Are you sure?" and I said yes. Then I snuggled down into his arms and he said, "Can't you wait two weeks?" Honestly!!! We tried to go back to sleep but I was too excited, so I decided to get up and start my day. I logged on to Facebook and wrote on my status: "Noelle thinks today is a good day to have a baby". Haha! Then DH came out and said he couldn't go back to sleep, and that we should probably call his parents so they could come over and watch the kids while we went to the hospital. I told him to chill out; we had heaps of time. I started making sure I had everything packed in my bags, while my contractions were becoming more frequent.

Just before 5am, I had 3 contractions within the space of 10 minutes, and I told DH to call his parents. He told them not to be in too much of a hurry, as I thought we still had a couple more hours at home. He asked me if I wanted to wake T up and take her with us. We'd never discussed having her at the birth, although I'd thought about it, and I thought it was a great idea. So I went and sat on her bed, and as she woke up, I had an intense contraction that had me bending over the bed. She was looking at me like I was a complete loony. When it was over, I said, "Do you want to come to the hospital?" Half asleep, she said, "What? Why?" "Because the baby is coming today," I said. She was a bit confused and it took her about 10 seconds to wake up enough to realise I wasn't joking. "Yeah!" she said. so I told her to chuck on some clothes.

Within the space of about 10 minutes, my contractions went from being mild enough for me to remain standing through them, to reducing me to my hands and knees on the floor. I heard Jimmy waking up around 5:15 so I bounded in to his room and gave him heaps of cuddles and kisses and told him excitedly that the baby was coming. He was really excited by the atmosphere surrounding him, tearing around the house on his trike like a madman. By the time the inlaws arrived around 5:20, my contractions were hard, fast and with little respite in between. I had to find time between them to write down the names and phone numbers of all my students who were going to turn up for a lesson that morning so that MIL could call them and tell them not to come, as well as making sure I had everything I needed in my bags.

We hurried out the door around 5:30. The inlaws and Jimmy waved us off from the driveway. I gave Jimmy the biggest cuddle I could manage and teared up as I realised he would never be my only child again. I told him I loved him and the next time I saw him, he'd be a big brother. He waved as we pulled away, saying "See ya later!".

...to be continued.