The day Hannah arrived
Friday, August 21st, 2009
My back was bothering me again. I sat at the kitchen table trying to finish a bowl of cereal, but I was too uncomfortable. I was 36 weeks pregnant and I had a horrible cold. I called in sick to work and shuffled back to bed. I tried to fall asleep, but the pressure in my lower back wouldn’t give. I flopped from side to side. I paced around my bedroom. I rocked on my hands and knees, but my back continued to throb. I couldn’t sit still for more than a second. I called for my husband who happened to be home recuperating from a substantial orthopedic surgery that he had two weeks earlier. He messaged my back while balancing on his crutches, but it did no good.
“Don’t leave me”, I said. I was nervous and had to keep moving. He hobbled behind me from room to room. Maybe I pinched a nerve or pulled a muscle? Let’s just call the midwife and tell her what’s going on. She said it could just be end-of –pregnancy discomfort. Call her back if anything changes. I wasn’t having any other symptoms. Until…very suddenly I did.
I ran to the bathroom and threw up. The pressure in my back ramped up and radiated down into my bottom. I was moaning and walking around on my tippy toes with my back arched. It was intense. Could this be it? Was this labor? It came on so suddenly that we weren’t sure. I wasn’t having contractions . Everything we read said that labor progresses slowly and can take hours and hours for first time moms. Could this be some other medical issue? My husband said, “that’s it we’re going to the hospital.” I was crying.
Somehow he managed to get me into the backset of the car although I was unable to sit. I was on my knees holding onto the head rest. We reached the stop sign at the end of our block and I jumped out of the car. I couldn’t tolerate the car. I just couldn’t do it. My husband was yelling at me, “what are you doing? Get back in the car!!” I somehow managed to crawl back in and he drove like a maniac in reverse back to our house. He whipped into the driveway and called 911. ..To Be Continued.
Check back next Friday for Part 2 of, The day Hannah arrived. Have a great weekend and Happy Birthday Peter!
