Tabitha's Birthday

My friend Jamie came over yesterday to meet Tabitha and she reminded me that I haven't written down the chain of events leading up to Tabitha's birth. So many of you have been astonished with the perfect timing of her entrance into the world. Truth be told... I'm a little astonished myself. I told everyone I would drink the castor oil on January 19th, after the baby shower, and that she would arrive on the 20th. I actually drank castor oil about 6 days before that because I was getting nervous that I'd miss the shower... and I really wanted to be there for it. Well, obviously it didn't work and I swore to Brandon that there is no way I was doing it again. So, here's how it really went down.

As many of you know, my whole family was in town. EVERYONE, including my brother Cole, who tends to skip family events like baby showers. I was thrilled to have everyone here. On Saturday morning my wonderful friends threw me the most beautiful baby shower (I really am going to blog about the shower... I'm just waiting for pictures from my sister). The shower was over at Noon. We cleaned up and fed the men, and then headed off to the Arizona Puppet Theatre for a showing of Cinderella.
I don't recall having any contractions all morning... but I do remember Tabitha having the hiccups during the show. Jessie and Steve both got to feel her hiccuping away in my tummy.
We left the theater and went home for a couple of hours. I decided to get the mountains of new pink baby clothes put away, so I worked on that for a while. Brandon cut up a fresh pineapple that I had bought after reading somewhere that there is something in it that could start labor. I ate almost the whole thing and it was SO delicious. I think I did a couple of laps on my stairs, but not more than 3. There was a little tightening in my tummy from doing this, but still nothing worth writing home about.
We all trekked to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, but decided to get take out rather than wait an hour and a half. Take out from the Cheesecake Factory for 8 adults and 3 kids takes 4 people to carry... by the way. We went back to my mom's house in Trilogy and ate a wonderful meal... I had the Chinese Chicken Salad (mmm....). I think I had a contraction or two while we were there, but again it was nothing to get excited about.
As we left my mom's house... around 8:30, the desperation of the situation sank in. My sister and her husband, along with my brother Cole, would be leaving to fly home in about 20 hours. I desperately wanted them to be able to meet their first niece before they went. I felt a little bit of calm come over me and I realized that this would likely be THE night.
Brandon put the boys to bed while I got a movie started. There may have been a little extra action during Oceans Thirteen that night, but sure enough the contractions started coming about half way through the movie. We set up Brandon's laptop on my nightstand and used a marvelous website called contractionmaster.com to time my contractions. Unfortunately, they were all over the board... ranging from 1 minute to 8 minutes apart and 20 seconds to 1.5 minutes long. After two hours of timing them I still had no idea if I was in labor. I made Brandon get out of bed (it was almost midnight) and go for a walk with me. He really wanted to try to squeeze in a nap before we went to the hospital, but I wasn't about to walk around the neighborhood by myself in the condition I was in. Poor Brandon (not) always has to put up with going to the hospital in the middle of the night to have babies.
Anyway, we woke up my brother Cole and told him we were going for a walk and if the contractions got stable then we'd go to the hospital. He groggily told me "good luck". Brandon and I walked about 5 houses away when I realized I didn't want to get a block away and then not be able to go any farther. So, we turned around to just walk up and down our street. By the time we got back to the house I was like... to heck with this, let's just go to the hospital because I DON'T want to have this baby anywhere but in the hospital and I'm not taking any chances... even if it means they send me home and I lost a whole night of sleep.
So, in the truck we went and off to the hospital. Of course I didn't have a contraction for about 10 minutes after that and then I was seriously doubting my decision to go. But we persevered and drove the side streets that were under construction because the bumps made me contract.
When I got to the hospital and they checked me... I was STILL a three. Yes, that was two whole weeks that I pretty much had zero progress... so frustrating. At that point I wasn't very optimistic that I was going to have a baby that night. They told us to go walk the halls for 40 minutes. We did, and when we came back I was a 4-5. HALLELUJAH CHORUS BEGINS!
Brandon called his mom and I called mine. They both got out of bed to join us.
Of course, the next 5 hours were pretty uneventful. All of us tried to sleep, but no one was very successful. They didn't even check me again until about 6:30 and when they did my water broke. The doctor wasn't coming until 7, so they told me not to push. I wasn't wanting to push yet, but I was feeling a lot more pressure than I wanted to. With both of my boys I did not feel a thing and that is exactly how I like it. The nurses told me I was fine and that I would feel SOME pressure. DUH, I've done this before, but this HURTS, and I don't want it to!
Half hour later they tell me the doctor is on his way (wasn't he supposed to be here AT 7?) At this point my body wants to push the baby out, but I am resisting. I was resisting partially because everyone kept saying not to push, and partially because I know that if I push it is going to hurt. I remember that during every contraction my eyes would get really big and I was looking desperately at Brandon. I didn't understand how they could tell me not to push... I had no control of this baby coming out... she was going to come whether I pushed or not. It was really painful.
Doctor Joe showed up at 7:20. I love this man, but I swear he rolled out of bed at 7 and moseyed on over to the hospital while I was frantically trying to hold a child inside my body.
He was gloved and ready by about 7:22 and told me to push. I did, and immediately burst into tears... it hurt and I was really upset about it. Dr. Joe said, "let's just cut her and get this baby out." He did and out she slid at 7:26 am. They put her on my chest and I couldn't even enjoy her because I was so upset about the pain. They seemed to sense this and took her to clean her up. I could tell Brandon really wanted to go be with her, but was trying to figure out what I needed. I told him to go. I consider myself a really strong person, but I have ZERO tolerance for pain. I got control of myself though and realized that not only did I have a new baby girl, but I was no longer pregnant! HALLELUJAH CHORUS STARTS AGAIN! I was a mommy to three. My daughter just came from the pre-existence. My boys have a sister. My family will get to see her before they go home!
The timing really couldn't have worked out more perfectly. Of course, I can't help but think that a higher power had a hand in it. I am so thankful.