One year ago today... Part One.

I woke to sharp pains rising in my belly like a crescendo. It was 4 am. After a scant minute the pain subsided and I hefted my body back down into my nest of pillows and blanket tucking this one here and that one there making sure I had support where I needed it. Not perfect but it would do. Just as I was dozing off, it came again. A wave starting dull and low but quickly gaining intensity as it spread up and over my body. I glanced at the clock: 4:20. Seriously? Was this it? Was I really going to spend the last day of 2008 in labor? I began the process of rolling over, a 4 point turn that created a small earthquake in the bed bouncing slumbering husband perilously close to the edge of the bed. After more shuffling of blankets and pillows I compromised. Comfort was elusive. I laid there watching the clock, waiting. 4:34: here we go again. I nudged Chris, with a slight grunt of discomfort. He stirred but didn't wake. "honey" I said. "wake up, I'm having contractions" He rolled over and looked at me, blinking... I grimaced and waited for the pain to ease while he caressed my head. I held his hand and we dozed in the calm between. We had our own little unspoken communication going, I would squeeze his hand to indicate the pain was coming and he would remind me, by example, to breathe. This went on for a while until finally, at the tail end of one, I opened my eyes and asked "How long was that one?" "I'm not sure" he answered. Apparently this reply was not acceptable because I countered with "WELL, IF YOU CANT KEEP TRACK YOU HAD BETTER START WRITING THEM DOWN!"
To which he promptly jumped from the bed to retrieve paper and a pen. We documented the times as the contractions came and went about every ten minutes. I had just barely enough time to recover before another came knocking. We played time the contractions for a few hours and then at 11:53 am the last contraction of the day promptly ended. Wanting to keep everything progressing My nieces; Katie and Becky and I decided to walk the mall. Let gravity and motion do the work for me. So we hit The Streets at Southpoint and then I devoured dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I was on high alert, every little nudge, cramp and hiccup gave pause. In these brief hesitations everyone went quiet and waited for my reaction. But nothing seemed to be happening in the labor department so we called it day and went home to ring in the new year with apple cider and a movie. A movie I didn't make it 2o minutes into before falling fast asleep.

Here's wishing you a New Year filled with blessings and joy.