Wondering Where I've Been?

Clearly, it has been some time since I last entered anything into my blog. Well...there's a good reason. Little Farrah is now here. Mike and I focused long and hard to get her here early, and low and behold, it worked!. My plan here is to share everything that I can possibly remember about my entire birthing experience. As most of you know, due to the style of my writing, it could be a very long drawn out blog. Therefore, I will share pieces at a time.

So, let's begin...

Saturday, December 16th, was my extended family's Xmas eve party. By the name, you would assume it would've been on Xmas Eve, but I protested because of my upcoming event. I didn't want it to get in the way. Days leading up to the party, I had been practicing almost everything I could to help her move down the birth canal. Walking on the treadmill, stair climber, squats, sex, eating somewhat spicy foods and not really getting a sense of accomplishment. So, Saturday night, I bought a jar of peperoncinis in hopes that the intense spice would help agitate my system. I ate the traditional ham, scalloped potatoes, beans, and rolls with the family, but also popped a peperoncini from time to time. It was uncomfortable. They were very spicy. I got pretty tired that night so Mike and I decided to be the first ones to bail. When we got home, I continued to munch on the peperoncinis. Nothin'.

The next morning...somethin'. I woke up in the morning and lost my plug. To those that know what this is, sorry. To those who don't, we'll just leave it alone. In any case, I called Mike on his cell and let him know that I lost the plug. He asked if I was sure and it was a whole hearted yes. He was in with a customer when I called so he had to quickly get me off the phone. I was so excited, you'd think my water broke. I knew that when you lose your plug it could be days or even weeks before anything happens, but something just felt different about that day.

I called my mom to let her know that I lost the plug and she followed my announcement with information she neglected to tell me before. She said, "Ya know, I remember when I lost my plug with you, three hours later I began getting contractions and 4 hours after that I had you." WHA?!!! That's good to know. I got a message from Evie that said that she woke up that morning and felt like something was going to happen. She wanted to know how I was feeling and if anything strange had happened. From the time I got that message she had already talked to Mike who shared my plug story. When I called her, we talked for a while about the excitement of it all and I suddenly realized I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for the past hour every 3 minutes. I knew that Braxton Hicks were false labor, but I also knew that they were a means to help soften up my uterus. I had already crapped 3 times and it wasn't even noon yet. I had shared all of this with Evie, and she said, "Oh my god, Kathy, I think you might be in labor right now." GIDDY. I started laughing hard at her comment, because I told her about when my mom was pregnant with Steve how she was having all this little signs and my Great Grandma said to her word for word what Evie said to me (only she said Jan instead of Kathy). Evie got online to look up signs of labor vs. false labor. There were things that were going on with me that could've easily been classified as both so it was somewhat confusing. Evie kept telling me to let her know when I knew for sure, because she would pack up the car and she, Joe, and Oliver would be on their way immediately.