Timing

On Monday morning, Clark's car wouldn't start as he was attempting to go to work. It got me thinking about timing. Of course, just having a baby may have a prompted these thoughts a little bit too. I'm so glad that this happened after Afton was born, not before. I could picture the conversation, "Hey Clark, I'm in labor." "That's great Kim. Can you pick me up from work since my car won't start?"

So here's some of my thoughts about the timing of the great event that just took place in our lives.

First, I may be wrong on this, but I believe that every woman wants to have her baby early. You hit about the 9th month and your uncomfortable and little bit tired of the whole thing. So I was in that boat. It wasn't until the week before she was born that I decided I was ready to be done and I figured that having her over Labor Day weekend was going to be the most ideal time. But that came and went and several more days and finally the morning after my mom arrived she was born. And even though she came after my ideal time, when she was born has been the ideal timing! It gave Clark a few days off because of the weekend. And the Lord sure knows that I'm the kind of mom that really struggles leaving my kids with just anyone, so having my mom here before I had the baby was such a big relief.

When a woman is in labor, timing can be critical. Usually you start timing contractions and watch how they get closer together and then you know it's time to go. Well, not with this one. I probably started having contractions the evening before but they were all over the place. They would be 7 minutes apart for a while, then 10 minutes, than 3 minutes than 5 minutes. Get my point. It wasn't until 1:00 AM they came fast and regular. Of course, for 45 minutes neither Clark nor I believed it. Finally, he convinced me we should go to the hospital. I'm notoriously bad for not wanting to be there.

Good thing he did because when we arrived at the hospital we received the last room and it was just a triage room. At our small hospital they have 4 labor and delivery rooms and 2 triage rooms. Apparently minutes after I showed up a pregnant woman number 7 did. And she was stuck in the hallway. No thanks!! I should mention that not all the women there were actually in active labor. I think about 3 were there for inductions. But it was a crazy, busy night for the nurses. And yes, I did deliver Afton in a triage room.

A small mention about the nurses. I had a horrible experience with a nurse in this same hospital when delivering Eliza. It made me concerned about delivering there again. The nurses this time were FABULOUS! When I first walked in they seemed so delighted to know that I was in actual labor (a walk-in). And the nurse who was first admitting me almost gave a cheer when she learned that I wanted to attempt to deliver without an epidural. I instantly made her my nurse.

Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later she got called away to help a woman in another room (also delivering naturally) that was making a whole lot of racket. I silently told myself I wasn't going to be that way! Well, I was eating my thought about an hour later when I was screaming, yes, screaming about the pain. I really am embarrassed to share that. I couldn't help myself. Really and truly. It was a stressful situation because my doctor wasn't there yet and I needed to push and the nurse kept telling me "Don't push! Don't push!" Needless to say, Afton was born perfectly fine without the doctor (even though I sure do like the guy). He arrived 5 minutes later. I later learned he's gotten a lot of ribbing from the nurses about that although he wasn't to blame. He was informed a little too late.

So timing is a funny thing. Sure does make for interesting stories though. And all of that has been worth it for this: