Diego's Birth Day

Somewhere around 2am on August 7, 2005, my water broke. My husband and I had just had our final round of pregnancy sex. When I got up to go to the bathroom, I felt a small pop, and then a stream of warm liquid. It was much more then a trickle, but not the gush I was expecting. I went to the bathroom to see what was going on. I cleaned myself up a bit and then went to tell Jim and call the doctor for advice. I never expected my water to break first.


When the ob called me back, she asked about my contractions – which were maybe 10-12 minutes apart - and pretty mild looking back on things. She suggested I try to get some sleep as I’d need my energy later. Of course I felt too excited to sleep, but I did lay down for a while. It was about 3:30 am. I must have dozed off, because the sun was up when I got out of bed. I took a shower and got dressed. My contractions had slowed down by then and I was getting antsy. I went to the kitchen and started to make the birthday cake for our son who I hoped would be joining us very soon. I had read about a birth-day cake in a book called Birthing from Within and it struck me as a really nice tradition to start for my family. My husband looked at me like I was a little wacky, maybe he thought I was kidding when I first mentioned it a few weeks prior. Either way, it took my mind off of the anticipation of the next contraction.


Throughout the day, I paced around the house, watched tv, sat on the birthing ball. I thought about going outside, but really didn’t want to while amniotic fluid was leaking out of me. Looking back on things, I’m sure it would have been fine. Everything seems much more dramatic while you’re actually in labor. (Add that to the list of things people should tell you about child birth…) Of course, without a strenuous walk, my contractions were not progressing. While my husband watched what seemed to be endless amounts of Dave Chappelle, I started to loose it. I was becoming very cranky. I can’t remember if I ate anything, though I’m sure I must have. I drank water, juice, and tea. I packed and repacked my hospital bag and tried to read. The day just seems like a big blur now.