The night before Laelynn

As I write this, I am sitting on my couch with a sweaty, little, sleeping, sweetie draped over my shoulder. I can’t believe it’s been an entire year ago that I sat on my couch as a mommy of two with my giant, round belly waiting to burst. As the days go faster and faster and the business gets more and more demanding, I’m afraid that I will forget exactly how it happened; the story of the day I became a mommy of three. So, I think I should write it down. Maybe one day she will want to know how it went or maybe I will want to remember it again with all the hilarious details…

I was due on October 3rd but hoping to go a little early. I had had a couple of times when I thought I might be in labor, but the contractions would fizzle out and leave me tired, annoyed, and still pregnant.

And then it happened; every heavily pregnant woman’s nightmare.

The AC went out in our house.

Thankfully, Nana and Pop were only about 15minutes away and invited us to come crash at their house until our landlord could have our unit repaired. We threw together a few things and drove to Nana’s. At first, we were not planning to spend the night. However, as the night went on, it became obvious that it was not going to be cool enough for my whale-like self until the next day. So Michael stayed at the house and the kids and I stayed with Nana and Pop.

We were up talking somewhat late and then made our way to bed.

As I was laying down, I felt a contraction. “Oh great,” I thought to myself, “this will make sleeping away from home even more fun.” I was sure that it was going to fizzle out as I relaxed and settled in but began timing them anyways, just in case. At first they were mild and about 8-10 minutes apart and only lasted about 30-45 seconds. No big deal. But then they were 7 minutes apart and then 6 and then 5 and they also began to last a little longer each time. Not wanting to wake anyone over a false alarm, I waited until this had gone on for about an hour and then decided to get mom’s opinion on it.

I texted her first but no answer. Texted her again, still no answer. So I called her instead.

ring…ring…
“Hello?” (sleepy, groggy voice)
“Mom, can you come out here?”
“Where are you?” (still sounding a bit out of it and very confused)
“I’m in the hallway”
“What? Why?”
“I didn’t want to knock on your door and startle you. I’m in the hallway outside your door”
“Oh. Hang on.”

She came out and joined me on the floor in the dark hallway and I told her what was happening. By now she was much more awake and listened carefully and patiently as I explained that I wasn’t sure what to do because I didn’t want to give a false alarm. She suggested I text Michael, which I had already done once, but there was no answer. So I then tried calling him, no answer. Called him again, no answer. Called him again, no answer.

By now, the contractions were starting to hurt and I was becoming more and more convinced that it was time to go to the hospital to get checked out. Daddy (Pop) offered to stay with the sleeping minions while Mom drove me home to try to get my hubby’s attention.

What a drive that was! It was only 10-15 minutes but the contraction were now painful and poor Nana was getting nervous! I was in pretty good spirits and we both saw the humor in the situation but we were also both thinking the same things:
1) Michael better answer the door!
2) I can not give birth in this car!

We made it to the house which was completely dark. I had continued calling him the whole way home but still no response and, to make it even better, I had no house key. The two of us were determined to wake the man up at all costs at this point so we opened a full scale attack on the door upon arrival. We banged on it with our fists and rang the doorbell and banged on it some more and rang and rang the bell until:

*front door swings open wildly with Michael standing there to greet us with eyes half closed, wearing his shirt and underwear*
“What?!” he asked, half angry and half confused
“Wanna have a baby tonight?” I asked
“Yeah!” he replied, still sounding about 50/50 angry-annoyed and sleepy
“Go put pants on, my mother doesn’t want to see you in your underwear.”

He disappeared into the dark house as mom and I burst into laughter in disbelief at the exchange we had just had with the poor man.

We quickly readied ourselves to go and put things into the car as Michael got some pants on.

Nana headed back to her house to get dressed and check on the minions and we took of for the hospital.

As we drove, it was very apparent that this was indeed the real deal. The pain was intense now and I could hardly wait to get to the hospital!

To make a long story short(er), we checked in and found out I was already several cm dilated. Everything happened fast at that point; my labor was progressing very fast and I had a lot of back pain and before long was begging for the epidural. The nurse said I had to receive a full bag of fluids first so she and Michael took turns squeezing my IV bag as I wailed with each contraction. Once the bag was empty, an angelic looking man walked into my room with a tray full of promising drugs. I was in transition at this point and could barely sit to get the epidural placed but we finally got it settled and the sweet relief washed over my low back and legs.

Cindy and Nana arrived ready to offer support and take pictures and Michael busied himself with turning on my oil diffuser (which all the nurses commented on and loved) and rubbing ginger and lavender into my feet.

Dr Qureshi was on-call that night and guided us through some intense and scary moments during pushing. Several times, the baby’s heart rate would drop dramatically and they would have me change positions and stop pushing to relieve the stress on her. The room grew quiet and we were all silently praying and a little afraid but my sweet girl was tough and made it out just fine.

Laelynn was born sunny side up at 6:22am, 8lbs 15oz, and 20 inches long with a head full of hair and the chubbiest little cheeks dotted with two of the sweetest dimples you have ever seen.

We love you, Laelynn Mary <3

About the Author

Holly

I am a homeschooling, stay at home mom of four amazing humans which I co-created with the help of my husband of 15+ years, Michael. We love family, good food, big laughs, and getting into trouble together. We have no idea what we are doing, but we love each other and we love Jesus!

"We may not have it all together; but together, we have everything."

One thought on “The night before Laelynn

  1. This is so sweet of a story, Laelynn will love this story one day!! You all are the sweetest parents ever!!
    Love you all

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may also like these