...and Baby Makes Four: It All started Early On St. Patrick's Day...

The morning of March 16, I woke up around 4:30am in a sheer panic. I was not ready to give my class up to another teacher! I still needed to get organized and make lists. David reminded me that I still had 4.5 weeks before I would need to worry about any of this. I knew myself and knew that if I did not get my act together, I would not sleep for the next 4.5 weeks. So, I brought home my computer that evening and started writing very detailed notes about all that still needed to be done.

Just as I was getting myself ready for work the next morning, I thought Id better get myself a snack for the mid-morning. I made my way into the kitchen around 6:00am and took out the strawberries. Just then, I noticed that something wasn't right. I went upstairs to ask David if he thought my water could break without having any contractions. He thought that the contractions would come before the water broke. So, I went in to take care of things and low and behold...it happened again! We thought we'd better take a look online to see if this could actually be happening. I was only 35.5 weeks pregnant. David quickly found out that, yes, your water can break without having any contractions...at least contractions that you can feel! We called the "on call" doctor and found out that thankfully it was my doctor! I described to her what had happened and she told me that she thought my water had broke and that I needed to start making my way to the hospital. The planner that I am, I asked if I had time to go in and write up lesson plans for the day. My leave replacement was supposed to come in that day and observe me and the class! She laughed and politely told me that I'd better pass on going into work and just start toward the ferry. My heart started racing as I hung up the phone and turned toward David, and started to cry with panic! I was not ready! We were not ready! David lovingly reminded me that we were very ready and that our baby was already measuring at 5.5lbs. It was go time!

We quickly raced around the house, David getting baby stuff together, and me getting our stuff together. Both David and I were still in denial and thought surely we would be back home later that afternoon. I tried to think of things we both might want if we needed to stay over night for observation...pj's, slippers, pillows, etc. Not at all thinking about what I might need if I actually deliver our baby! As we both wrapped up our packing, we met in the kitchen. I slipped on my high heels (because I would be coming back in to work later that afternoon...or so I thought) and grabbed my strawberries. David looked at me with a loving smile and said, "What are you doing wearing high heals, going to the hospital in labor?!!" All I could think about was, "Well, they look cute with my outfit!" He convinced me to put on some more comfortable shoes and we were off!

We made our way to the ferry, first dropping off my computer for my leave replacement, Tiffany. I quickly tried to tell her my plans for that day and where to find my detailed notes that I stayed up late the night before writing, were. As we got on the ferry, we discovered that our toughest task, choosing a name, was still undecided! We spent the duration of the ferry ride trying to come up with a name that we both loved. Mind you, we had been working on this task for 8 months!

As we got the hospital, we made our way to triage and discovered that my doctor had just ended her shift and that we would have a different doctor. Thankfully we had just met Dr. Melville two appointments ago and loved her! She did a quick ultrasound to make sure that our little man had turned (he had been breech at our last ultrasound at 32 weeks). All looked good and she determined that yes, my water had broke. She turned toward David and I and said, "You are leaving here with a baby!" Shocked, I had to ask her again, "So, this is really happening?" She confirmed and told us that it would be a long day and night. We should go eat breakfast and then make our way to the birthing suite. And so it all started...