Bring Mouthwash!

It's been good times since we spoke last: E's been (mostly) sleeping in 5-6 hour chunks at night, he graduated into bigger clothes sizes, and Lisa's been chauffeuring him around town for lunches/play dates/errands. Mommy and Daddy had a nice night out to see MARY POPPINS the musical while Auntie 'Ness and Uncle Bri babysat.

Today, I wanted to tell the next installment of E's birth story (as well as share some more of his portraits). So where were we? Ah, yes...It was a 1:10 A.M., the all-knowing dog sensed the coming birth, and Lisa's water just broke...*cue wavy lines as we enter the flashback*

Lisa rushed into our bathroom."Um. My water just broke."


My eyes popped open like a cartoon as I went from dead asleep to 20-cups-of-coffee awake. "You're kidding." 


"No." 


I threw off the covers and jumped out of bed, even more Bugs Bunny-esque than before. "So, we're doing this." 


Within a minute, Lisa was on the phone with Kaiser's Labor & Delivery. While I paced, they quizzed her (no contractions yet, first child, still a month before the due date). She hung up and told me that since we were nearby, they thought we could come in to get "checked out." Lisa calmly told me we had time and we could calmly pack our bag and that we should just stay calm and...


That's when the contractions started. 

Using my handy iPhone app (yep, there's an app for everything these days), I began timing the contractions while my brain ran through all the things we'd learned in our classes. (1) Bring lots of things to keep her distracted from the pain because labor takes a long, long time. (2) Mouthwash is essential if you wish to stay close to her during this process. (3) No need to rush until the contractions are 5 minutes apart, a minute in length, and with that pattern lasting an hour. 


As I stuffed MODERN FAMILY DVDs, the iPod, and Listerine into our duffle, Lisa followed me around telling me when her contractions began and ended. Almost immediately, I noticed something: The app must be faulty. Her contractions were a minute long, but less than two minutes apart - way too close together for this early on. After all, her water just broke. Plus, she was still able to talk through them (she also emailed her boss during one with the message - in true Lisa fashion - Subject: In late today. Message: I'm experiencing some labor symptoms and am headed to hospital.)

After a few more contractions associated with increasing pain, we decided it was time. Rushing out of the house, we petted the dogs, grabbed the 30" diameter birthing ball (another essential from the classes) and the car seat. Around 1:45 A.M., we piled into my CR-V (after Lisa had me lay down some towels on her seat) and left for the hospital. 


TO BE CONTINUED...