Noah's Birth Story - Part One

I really would have liked to get this written sooner, but man, life with a newborn is quite busy!!

As you may or may not know, Noah's due date was May 25th. Due to daddy's traveling schedule and the fact that he had a bye week (meaning no practice, traveling, or appearances) the week before that, we had scheduled an induction for May 18th. I would have been 39 weeks pregnant. 

Well...little man had other plans! 

On Thursday, May 7th I was working and started noticing I was getting contractions. They weren't painful at all, just regular Braxton hicks. What I did notice was they felt pretty regular. I started timing them on my handy app and it turns out they were about ten minutes apart. 
 

We had finally installed his car seat on the 6th!

 

Now, around this time I had also experienced some of the not so flattering signs of possible labor. If you want to know, feel free to ask, but I'm not going to go into detail here. Sometimes these mean labor is imminent, sometimes they mean it's still a ways off. Not confusing at all right?

 

That weekend, C had an away game in New Orleans. With the labor signs and the regular (albeit non-painful) contractions I was starting to get worried. Arizona and Louisiana aren't exactly close. If he left, and I went into labor, it would be at least 7 hours before he made it back home. 

 

As the day wore on, my contractions started to get closer together. At one point, they were at almost five minutes apart. Still though, they weren't painful at all. 

I decided that it would be best to see my Doctor and get her opinion. I called the office and of course she was out of town that weekend, but thankfully the other doctor (who I had just met the week previous) was willing to see me. 

 

When I got to the office, she checked me and I had gone from 50% effaced and 1 centimeter dialated on Monday to 90% effaced and 1 centimeter. Doesn't sound like much of a change, but it was only over a period of 3 days and I was having other signs. She told me she couldn't predict that I would for sure go into labor, but if it were her, she wouldn't let her husband make the trip. 

Of course, of all the weeks, this was a game that the team really needed C. One of their best guys had been suspended and C was going to play his position. He talked it over with the team and we all decided, as long as something didn't happen that night, that C would travel. The team promised that if aI started to go into labor while he was away, he would be on the next plane home and they would make sure of it. I got phone numbers of some of the personnel so I could contact them if need be during the game. 

 

Daddy putting together the final baby items the night before he
 left while I lay in bed with light contractions!

Thankfully, that evening the contractions stopped around 8pm. I decided that since C was going to travel, I was going to do everything I could to rest and keep little man comfy, inside my belly! 

How I spent my Saturday night....watching C's game

 

I went to work the next day, but then put myself on a self imposed bed rest for the weekend. I had heard that walking around a lot could definitely cause labor, so I was too afraid to do anything!  I left the house for a quick lunch, but from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon I just laid around the house. Let's just say, I am very thankful I chose to do that!



The bump barely fitting into a booth the night during lunch on Saturday



Next up...the real labor begins!