living. and birth day. part one.

Today marks the start of day 11. Make that 12, if you count the birth day. It absolutely amazes me already how far we've come in such a short amount of time. I was feeling pretty anxious initially on Mr. Calvin's arrival, and have just in the last couple of days, begun to settle into a semblance of a routine. I'm getting used to being up a few times during the night, then trying to quickly fall asleep to squeeze the last few minutes of dreams. Calvin arrived exactly a week and a day beyond his due date of November 1, at 6:40am on the 9th. Earlier in the week, Monday to be exact, Dr. Jenny had recommended scheduling an induction if I didn't go into labor on my own by the weekend. She otherwise wouldn't have been on call again for another week and a half, and that, my friends, would most certainly have been overcooked. Andy and I were becoming increasingly aware of the baby's upcoming arrival, but kept hoping that labor would start on its own, lest we not feel guilty about "forcing" him out of his cozy growing place. Unfortunately, despite various runs of what I was sure were mild contractions, Sunday arrived without a trip to the hospital. We didn't sleep well on Saturday, as we had been told to be ready to be at the hospital by 7am. After showering, finishing packing the car, and eating what we could manage for breakfast, I called Meriter, only to find that they were quite busy and insisted on delaying our arrival for at least a couple of hours. As we were already awake, and mostly fed, we decided to waste time, and reflect on our last few hours as the two of us, at EVP coffee. The nice barista insisted on providing us (especially Andy) with free coffees/mochas on the account of our occasion-- this just made us more excited, and a little nervous. 10:00 came and went, with another notice to stay at home for now-- the nurse insisted that she thought we could come around noon, once "the unexpected incident" could be resolved (whatever that meant).

Again, the noon phone call to triage was a bit of a disappointment- still no room at the inn, but they were still hopeful for Sunday at some point. We got a happy "don't call us, we'll call you", and at 2:30 got the call to head over "before they changed their minds". It was surreal driving to the hospital for a planned delivery- knowing that the next time we'd be in the car it would be with our baby. On arrival to 5 North, we were ushered into a very sunny, very hot, maternity "suite" which would become our new home. It again felt unbelievable as the charge nurse asked me a bunch of admission questions, and we simply sat next to one another smiling on the uncomfortable couch. Our nurse came in, and asked if I might want to change into a hospital gown, which I did, then about an hour later, the OB resident arrived to attempt to "rupture the membranes". She didn't seem to sure of herself, but then, I felt a gush of warmth, and it was done. I remember thinking, "this is it, no turning back". Monitors were strapped into place, and we were sent on a mission to start walking-- unfortunately, the wireless monitors didn't work very well more than a few feet from the base, and this meant that the semi-uncomfortable walks around the floor were short-lived. As much as I wanted the breaking of water to be the only thing needed to jumpstart my labor, it didn't really work, and although contractions were regular, they were still very tolerable, and not making me progress beyond 2 cm four hours later. Interestingly, the resident really felt that I was at -1 station instead of 0-- which my doctors had felt I had been at for weeks. Hmm... subjectivity, I guess.