When I was pregnant with my first baby, I had no idea what to expect with labor. My husband and I took classes but I never felt really prepared.
I found myself getting very anxious as my due date grew closer. I carried a bag with extra clothes daily because I had horrifying visions of my water breaking while I was working. I started going through scenarios in my mind of what I would do if I went into labor while driving. I was particularly worried about being on the freeway during rush hour. My belly had grown so big that I could barely fit behind the steering wheel of my car. With about two weeks left before my due date, I was lucky enough to work from home. I no longer had the nervousness about driving, but I obsessively thought about labor.
When was it going to happen? How will I know that I am in labor? Will there be time to get to the hospital? What if I miss the window for my epidural? So many questions haunted me. It became difficult to sleep at night. I tried to take walks. I tried to clear my head. Nothing worked. Not knowing what was going to happen was the hardest part for me. My body was stretched to its limit but still, that baby would not come out. Everyday I woke up thinking, “Today could be the day!” There was something that brought me great comfort to think that by tomorrow, I could be holding my baby boy. But the days would come and go and still nothing.
It was about 6:30 on a Wednesday evening. My husband came home from work and I was at the computer still working. As I finished my work day, I checked the dinner I had started earlier and went to the other room to fold some clean towels. Then somewhere in the middle of my fold, SOMETHING HAPPENED. I realized that my pants were slightly wet. I thought I felt a dribble. What was THAT? Did I pee without knowing it? It didn’t feel like it. I went to the bathroom to check it out. I wasn’t even sure that they were wet. Did my water break? Impossible. With all the images I had of HUGE amounts of liquid gushing out onto the floor? Then just a little trickle? There is no way that my water broke. Just then, I remembered something from my birthing class.
I called to my husband to help me. I laid flat on the floor and had him help me do a sit-up. Another sit-up and then one more. Every time I sat up, I felt another trickle of wetness. “What is it?” he asked. “I think you should eat dinner,” I told him. “I think my water broke.” Slowly the contractions started and we waited at home for almost two hours before they became strong enough to go to the hospital. I smiled with joy. TODAY was the day. I didn’t know that I had about 16 hours to go before I would get to hold my baby. The adventure was just beginning.