Trey David Bland: A Birth Story; Part One

38ish weeks pregnant

 

On Saturday, April 19th, I woke up at 5:00 am feeling much like I had on the days and weeks before.  Tired.  Sleep had become a precious commodity and today was no different.  My back was really sore, but again, that was no different than it had been for weeks.  I relunctantly got ready for the day and did those mundane things around the house like dishes and laundry.  I remember that the only plan I had for the day was to write and mail out thank you cards (funny that I didn't get to the ONE thing that I had planned to do).  Haha.

 

We went out to breakfast and I was really uncomfortable.  It was at this point that I noticed that the pain was coming and going consistently, so I started to time it.  It was really sporadic.  Every 15 minutes, then 8, then 10.  I never once thought that I could be in labor.  False labor maybe, but not labor.  In the weeks prior, I was constantly having people ask me if I'd had Braxton Hicks contractions (or a Higgs Bosen, right Dave?...inside joke...) and I'd always answer with, "I don't know".  My back hurt all of the time, but other than that, I felt great.  I remember asking people how I would know I was in labor and everyone told me the same thing "Oh, you'll know.  You can't mistake it." 

We came home from breakfast and I headed out to my parents to spend the day with my Mom and Carlie.  On the drive there, the pain left and I figured that I had slept on my back wrong and that was that.  By the time I got to my parents I was exhausted.  Not really from pain, just that "oh my gosh I'm so fat and pregnant" exhausted, you know?  I plopped myself down on the couch and took a nap.  At this point, I believe I went into actual labor.  I didn't think that I was at the time.  But now that I look back on it, I'm pretty sure I was in labor.  I had only been at my parents for an hour or so and was feeling so crappy that I just decided to head home. 

The rest of the day is really a blur.  I spent the next few hours on the couch watching WAY too many episodes of Modern Family and dozing on and off in between contractions (Yet I STILL didn't think I was in labor).  I had mentioned to Dave how tired and sore I was and he asked me repeatedly throughout the day if I was in labor and I insisted that I wasn't.  You see, all throughout my pregnancy I read birth story after birth story.  I soaked in as much information as I possibly could about it.  And everything I read was pretty consistent.  "A deep pain in your abdomen..a tightening of your uterus...your stomach will become really hard...etc).  But most important of all "You'll KNOW when you are in labor."  Well, I DIDN'T know.