Coffee, Curtains, Chaos, & a Quarter-Pounder

I'm sure you are wondering what do these three, seemingly random, things have in common. Although very random, for us, they each play an important role in Norah Grace's birth story. 

It all started at 5:46AM on Saturday, March 26, 2011, when I was awakened from a rather restless night of sleep by my first true contraction. I stayed in bed until about 7:15 when Liam woke up. Happy for the distraction I got up with Liam and left Rolf snoozing in the bed. As Liam and I snuggled on the couch watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse the contractions intensified until about 8:30 when I sent Liam into wake up Daddy. Rolf quickly got up and took over taking care of Liam and making breakfast (the normal Saturday morning pancakes, of course.) I decided that a nice hot bath would feel good and as the boys prepared for the day I relaxed in the tub for a little while. I relaxed so much that my contractions pretty much stopped and I decided that this was probably just a false alarm.

However, not long after I got out of the bath, dressed and started back about the day my contractions returned and were definitely stronger. Rolf and Liam were heading out to grab some {COFFEE} and I told them they might need to hurry as I thought this might be it. They headed out to Starbucks and I sat down on the couch to fold a little laundry and catch-up on some DVR. Again, I made myself so comfortable that for the hour that the boys were gone my contractions completely stopped. Now by this time I was convinced that this was a false alarm so when Rolf and Liam got home we set about finishing our "Nesting To Do List" which included ironing and hanging {CURTAINS} in Liam's big boy room. 

As I started ironing, the contractions returned and were growing stronger and stronger with each one. Rolf definitely had his hands full trying to hang curtains, manage a crazy two-year-old, and help me through contractions. Once the curtains were hung, all the laundry was folded, the guest room was ready for company, and my contractions were 7 minutes apart I finally admitted to myself that I was actually in labor. At around 1:00PM I called our friends who were going to be watching Liam and let them know that today was the day and asked if they would be on standby for when we were ready to head to the hospital. I also called my parents and told my mom who already had her bags packed that it was time to hit the road. 

About this time things transitioned from calm to {CHAOS} as my contractions went from 7 minutes to 4 minutes rather quickly. I told Rolf he needed to call our friends and tell them to head our way sooner rather than later as things were progressing faster than we had planned. I moved from the living room where I had been using the birthing ball back to the bedroom so I wouldn't scare Liam as I worked through now extremely intense contractions. Rolf kicked it into high gear and got Liam set up with lunch while at the same time changing clothes, packing the car, and still helping me through contractions. The contractions did not slow down at all and just as quickly as they went from 7 to 4 minutes they went from 4 minutes to back to back. Another phone call was placed to our friends who by now had dropped everything and were on their way. By this time Liam had finished up lunch and was rather concerned about his mommy. He wandered back to the bedroom to check on me and peaked his head in through the doorway as I was on all fours in the middle of the contractions. He got down, crawled over to me, and then laid down on his back under me looking up. I don't remember what my response to him at the time was but I will forever cherish this sweet memory. 

Around 2:30PM with the calvary having arrived, we finished loading up the car and walked out the door leaving Liam rocking on the birthing ball saying "me having a baby!" Rolf helped me into the car and set off for the hospital which was about a 5 minute drive from our house. As luck would have it, during that 5 minute drive my contractions went from back to back to about 10 minutes apart. Not wanting to get to the hospital too early we decided to drive around for a little while and knowing that it might be a long night we decided to swing through the McDonald's drive-thru for a quick bite to eat before heading into the hospital. As Rolf enjoyed a {QUARTER-POUNDER} I ate some fries and wander again, if this was really it, still questioning if we should go on in or drive around for a little longer. No sooner than we had finished lunch, I have another major contraction and we headed straight for the hospital.

At around 3:30PM we arrived on the labor deck and were very quickly taken back to triage as it was rather obvious that I was in active labor. They of course got us hooked up to the monitors and did a quick assessment. Much to my surprise and excitement, I was 8 cm dilated, 100% effaced, and +1 station. Together all these things meant we would be having a baby sooner rather than later! 

Around 4:45PM my doctor arrived and checked me again, by this point I was 9 cm dilated and still at +1. She said that if I started feeling the need to push to call her and within about 15 minutes I was feeling the need to push. Pushing was an almost surreal experience as my contractions were nowhere near as strong as they were through transition. I would push during the contractions and then we would chit-chat, laugh, and tell stories in between, really weird I know but not a bad way to go through labor. 

At 6:01PM an elated Rolf announced to us all (our doctor didn't even know the sex) that it was a GIRL and that is the story of how we welcomed Norah Grace Graning into the world!               

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