Yeah, I Remember May 9th

May 9th last year, that is.

I was reminiscing with Matt and my sister-in-law about the date May 9th. My due date for Stevie was May 22nd and was then changed to May 28th (though, seriously, umm, May 22nd would've given my little bun enough time in there...and my midwife Aunt always went by that earlier one for me and was a little upset that they "changed" it...anyway...). I had an appointment with my OB the first week in May and had "increased" to between 2-3 cm and was 80% effaced (may have been 75%, but I believe that was at the first "checked" appointment). Anyway, the Dr. was really excited (I love her...she is always excited). It was good improvement from the last week, and she thought for sure I would not make it to the next weekly appointment (even though cervical dilation means nothing at this stage of the game). We had looked at the calendar and saw that May 9th my Dr. was on call and it was to be a full moon. (You've heard of that, right?...Statistically, more women go into labor during full moons.) May 9th is also Matt's brother's birthday. Perfect timing! Well, May 9th came and went...and if I knew then what I know now, I probably would have ___you fill in the blank____.

A FULL MONTH went by before Stevie made his arrival. What little lovelies can I laugh about now...since he didn't arrive for another month? Well, there are many!

-For one, I drove around with an all-purpose baby pad on my seat...in case my water broke. In church, I carried that partner in crime water bottle (to spill "accidentally") for the same reason. (Hey, I had some teenagers point and laugh and say, "Wouldn't it be funny if her water broke?" "Yeah, especially if it got all over your shoes!" No, I didn't say that. I just waddled away.)
-I had some lower back aches in addition to the braxton hicks I'd had for months.
-I see that huge watermelon on it's side in my belly in pictures and feel the stretching just thinking about it. I just saw some pictures of a girl who at 39 weeks pregnant looked like my belly after Thanksgiving dinner. (Maybe that would account for a 3 lb difference in the size of our babies). What can I say? I ate my double cheeseburgers and enjoyed my milkshakes too. I was called "fat lady" by the time April rolled around, asked if I was carrying twins....and if I was sure that I wasn't. Matt didn't call, "Timberrr!" for nothin' when I'd get into bed!
-The grocery store looks had begun far before then. I never did understand what was so interesting...it really was like I was the first pregnant person the world had seen.
-I couldn't walk nearing 8 months and called it "Cowboy syndrome" until I learned it's actually "saddle sore." Stevie put so much pressure on my lower self, it felt like I had pulled muscles in my groin. And yet...we carried on.
-Matt hit a deer on the way to work and we had the whole car switching fiasco...of carseat base and hospital bag, etc. from rental car back to newly fixed car.
-We passed by what was supposed to be a joyous May 9th. Entered into May 10th (Mother's Day...that would've been fun too), 11th, 12th, 13th, etc....the contractions continued but no baby.
-Fast forward to May 30th. 21 days. 21 days later, I pulled that awful ligament in my back getting up for one of those thousand trips to the bathroom at night. That hurt so. bad. I've had some injuries, but that was bad, probably also because I had a 40 pound watermelon pulling me down from the other side. I was so afraid I might be having back labor on top of it (weird, I know, but one of my mom's labor pains began in her shoulder blades!). My husband went to fight off the bad guys (umm the other paint ball guys!!) while I laid on my old high school bed at my parents' with ice and heat, and groaned. I thought I was going to die. haha. My mom loves to tell the true story of how I laid on my side and my back touched one end of the bed and the tip of my belly touched the other edge. I was that huge!
-Right after this lovely day, I started getting those itchy red bumps all over my belly...thinking it was Matt's gift to me of poison ivy after playing paintball. Nope, just PUPPS! Couldn't get much more miserable.
-Fast forward to June 3rd. Still having back pain and the itch is intensifying...and I'm stretched beyond what I think is possible. I went in for my non stress test and ultrasound. Because, wait for it, I still didn't have Stevie yet. The grouchy ultrasound lady tells me the baby is 9 lbs 8 oz. I'm ready to burst into tears. She sends me on my "merry" way to go home (except for non stress test first) and wait for induction on June 6th. I go back out to the waiting room, tell my dad, and explain ultrasounds can be up to a lb off. You could tell he was feelin' for his little (well, once was) girl! He looked nervous for me. I tried to remain upbeat and figured, well, what was I gonna do? I got called back for a non stress test, while Dad did some calling of his own...my mom, and said that the baby was 11 lbs. She then called my sister in law...and on and on it went. Maybe they set up a prayer chain, I don't know. I had my test. Stevie was still very active (both technicians/nurses couldn't believe how active he was being the size he was and how far along we were). Yet, she kept telling me I or he...whatever...was failing. Over and over, she told me that. At the end, she took it to the Dr. He thought it was "great" and sent me home on my merry way to wait for my induction on the 6th. Could you cut a girl a break? Do you know what 3 more days does to a hormonal, emotional girl pregnant with a 1st grader?...I was thinking he would be 11 pounds by then! They must've had some confidence in me. Well, that prayer chain worked. I think this day was officially the end of my rope.
-That night, at 11:30, my water broke. Halleluiah! It had taken me a month (since early May) to go from 2-3 cm to a whopping 2-3cm when I checked in to the hospital! haha I was still the same, but at least I was 100% effaced. Still don't understand how you can be 100% and still have some dilation to go...but whatever. (But the residents also told me I was having a 7 lb baby...so what do they know? Just kidding, I liked them a lot and think they were very smart to tell me smaller!)
-I ended up having a wonderful labor and delivery (I say that tongue in cheek...you know, as wonderful as that sort of pain and stuff can be). But, we won't talk about the explosion of the PUPPS all over my body the day we left the hospital (this is not my picture...warning, it's bad, ...but it was me!), my 4 month recovery, and my surgery. Ahem.

-So, on June 4th, my beautiful baby boy finally made his much welcomed appearance in the world, 9 lbs 1 oz, 21.5 inches (sooo thankful for the 7 oz difference).

At least May 9th is someone's birthday...hehe. Really, I do laugh about these things...now...and I've heard of women going over a month overdue and having much larger babies than I. Bless. their. hearts. So, really, what have I to say?

But, June 4th was perfect. June 4th, I will always remember! And you know what? He was worth it all!