The Birth of Aiden Part One

I know you've all heard those nightmareish horror stories about birth.  The ones that include 72 hours of painful active labor, 4 epidurals that didn't work and at the end there is a c-section without enough numbing medication and the mom felt them cutting her open.  Yeah, well this isn't one of those.  Nope!  Not at all.

I woke up at 8:00 am on 1st December 2006.  I wasn't hurting, but I was hungry.  I got up, which was no easy feat when you're 35 weeks pregnant and have already gained 60 pounds, and made my way into our new kitchen to get a snack.  I then decided that the new home we had moved into a few weeks before was filthy.  Filthy, dirty, disgusting and not fit for a dog much less the beautiful, brown haired baby boy that I had started calling Aiden Konnor that I was sure I would have on my due date of 1st January 2007.  So I cleaned the living room.  In case you're wondering the house was not filthy or dirty, nor was it disgusting because my Mother-in-Law had spent an entire day scrubbing it down not even a month before this day.

I scrubbed the hardwood floors, vacuumed the couches out, vacuumed the rugs and wiped down all the tabled and the computer.  Content with my cleaning I got online for a bit, and got yet another snack.  It was then that I realized my back was hurting something fierce.  I assumed this was due to the 60 pound weight gain taking my 5 foot 3.5 inch frame from a mere 110 pounds to 170 in just a few short months, and of course because I was carting around my beautiful brown haired baby that I had been dreaming of also.  I got on my Mommy board, which included some super amazing women, one of which you know as J. (J and I met on JustMommies.com and a bunch of us got banned and decided moved our little group of ladies over to another private, uncensored forum.  I liked J from the start, she was awesome, she looked like Angelina (yes, Angelina for those of you who have never seen her lovely face, this was J's vintage Angelina look pre-Jessie Jane boobies!) and she was just all around fly!) We were all due to give birth in the same month!  Anyway, I had to check in to see if any of my bitches had gone into labor and I had missed the call.  They hadn't.





I decided it was time to do the baby laundry, so I threw a load in the washer and went on about my business.  I decided the kitchen was dirty, and so I cleaned all of that up.  I finished up the baby laundry that day, and got a lot of it put away before dinner.  I also got the house cleaned and everything was looking good.  At around 6:00 pm I had decided that it was time for dinner.  So I made steak, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and coliflower.  Justin and I ate in the living room and watched something on TV.  At around 8:45 pm Since I was 35 weeks and 5 days at this point Justin and I figured I wouldn't be able to *ahem* *wink wink, nudge nudge* for very much longer.  So we proceded to *ahem* *wink wink, nudge nudge* and about 45 minutes later he realized that we were both getting bloody.  *cue a freak out the size of the continent of Africa from yours truly*  I called my Mother-in-Law crying and just totally freaking out, thinking that I am losing my baby.  My Aiden Konnor.  The little boy who I wanted to be in my life, no needed to be in life more than anything else in the world.  She decided that it was just "bloody show" or me losing my mucus plug.  She told me to stay calm, shower, pack and she would be there as soon as humanly possible.

So I showered and dressed.  Checked to see if I was still bleeding, and I was but it had slowed some.  Thank God, because if it hadn't I am pretty sure that I would have had a panic attack right then and there.  I packed my bag for the hospital at lightning speed.  By packed I mean sat on the computer typing out a post about what was happening and asking my girls what they thought.  Later on I really did pack, because I knew I had to get my little baby his coming home outfit choices ready, and I knew my husband wouldn't know which ones they were because I changed my mind so much about it.  I packed him about 15 outfits, sleepers, socks, booties, hats, mittens, blankets and everything else I could think of that he might need.

The only thing left to do was to sit and wait on my Mother-in-Law to get here.  I called my Daddy, and I told him that Serena thought it was time but I didn't think it was.  I cried.  I told my Daddy I was worried about my baby, that I was bleeding and worried that I was going to lose my baby.  He reassured me that he thought everything was okay and asked me to call him when I got to the hospital.  He told me he would be there when he got off work the next afternoon.

My Mother-in-Law arrived, at around 10:00 pm.  She had my husband's cousin Jen following behind her with her daughter Andrea.  We drove the hour to the hospital, while I nervously cracked jokes and made sarcastic comments, in true Ashlee fashion.  She kept asking if I felt any contractions.  I didn't, I couldn't be having contractions because contractions were painful and I would know, right?  Everything I had read told me that I would know when I was in labor, so I couldn't be in labor, right?  I was looking for reassurance, because I was only 35 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  She offered none, because she kept telling me she thought I was in labor, and Jen thought so too.

We arrive at the hospital at around 11:15 pm on 1st December, 2006....

I check in and they get me up into a room in triage to get checked.  I was nervous because I had never been checked before, since I had to reschedule my last two appointments due to the passing of my husbands Aunt Kim, who we all called Sissy or Sissy Kim.  I hadn't been tested for group B strep either, and I would come to wish I had been in the next few hours.  The nurse comes in, and she is just a doll.  So sweet and she has a comforting presence.  She asked me what was going on.  I explaine to her that my husband and I were having sex and then I started bleeding and that I think I might have lost part of my mucus plug as well.  She tells me that I was probably bleeding due to the fact that we were getting it on in a slightly rough manner and that they would probably send me home on pelvic rest, which just means no sex.  So she hooks me up to the contraction monitor and checks me.  She mutters a very surprised sounding "OH!" which is not a very reassuring thing to say when someone is 35 weeks and almost 6 days pregnant and you're elbow deep in their twat, just so you know for future reference.

I asked what she meant by oh, and she nonchalantly said "Well no wonder you were bleeding honey!  Having sex when you're dilated to 6 will do that to you."  This is when my husbands' jaw drops down to the floor...the first floor that is, and we were on the third.  I started crying immediatly, because I knew what that meant.  I was 6 centimeters dilated, there is no going home while you're at a 6, there is an impending birth when you're at a 6.  I was about to have my son at 35 weeks and 6 days.  I would be giving birth tonight, you can't blame me for being optimistic and hoping I would get to a 10 and push my baby out within the next 15 minutes without the first contraction pain, can you?

Since this has gotten rather long I will post the second part on Tuesday or Wednesday!