It all started innocently enough - a night out to dinner, a walk around Toys R Us and then home for a cup of coffee (decaf) and bed. Only my walk around Toys R Us was not very comfortable - so uncomfortable, in fact, that I had to sit down a couple of times during the visit to the store. That should have tipped me off that something was amiss . . . but I just chalked it up to the baby being really low. So home we went where I sat and relaxed.
Then came 4:20 a.m. on September 25, 2011. I woke up suddenly and knew something was different. Then the pain came . . . and I started timing it. For the next hour I kept my eye on the clock and focused on the contractions. At 5:20 or so I woke up Frank and said that it was time to call my OB. He groggily caught on to what I was saying and got up. I called my OB who told me to go to the hospital, which I happily agreed to do. :) Upon arriving at the hospital I was placed in triage and was placed on the monitors. After a half hour or so (I'm off on the timing a little due to the pain of the contractions) I was checked and had only dilated a cm, if that. They decided to monitor me for another hour and then called my OB to see what she wanted to do (they were pretty sure I'd be admitted so they had already started an IV with fluids). Since I was over 40 weeks at this point and obviously in active labor, they admitted me (Yay!!). I got moved upstairs and waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive (I was counting the minutes). After receiving my epidural, my OB arrived and checked me (I had dilated to 6 cm in the span of about 3 hours); she then told me to call my sister, mom, husband's parents and have them come to the hospital now (they were all going to wait for a little while). Once they arrived (everyone got there about 1 o'clock) my OB broke my water and within a half hour I had dilated to 9 cm. Around 2 p.m. I started pushing and at 2:21 p.m. Jet Xiang Ting was born. :)
It is amazing how instantly and totally your heart is captured by such a little person!! :) Frank and I were so blessed to have Reese and now the Lord has given us another blessing. The only feeling I have is utter amazement and gratitude!! My prayer is that we never take for granted these gifts that have been given to us!
