The Birth of Evelyn Rae: Part Two

Get caught up:
{Part One}

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At midnight (on the dot) of Monday July 11th I sat straight up in bed as I was awoken by my second "real" contraction. (The first had happened three days earlier in the parking lot of Harris Teeter. Awesome.) In my heart I knew immediately that this was a real contraction, but I had gotten excited and let down so many times thinking that labor was starting, I refused to let myself get excited.

I got up, went to the bathroom, and thought, "Maybe that chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard was a bad idea right before bed...or in general. I haven't had one in years. Hm." 

My sister called out from her bedroom, having still been awake watching TV, "Everything ok?" 

"Yup," I replied, "just had to go to the bathroom."

I settled back down into bed, snuggled up to the puppy, since my husband was on.the.ship (predictable) and drifted back off to sleep.

At the strike of one o'clock my eyes popped right back open again. Another contraction.

Still I thought, "Hm. Every hour? That's not real. No one ever says, 'My contractions started every hour on the hour.' "

And I went back to sleep.

Another came at two. Then at three. Then at four.

In between each contraction, I went back off to sleep, my ridiculously half awake/half asleep self thinking, "Well, if this is the real thing, I am going to need my rest and I might as well chill out. Plus, if it is for real, it's certainly not going to stop anytime soon."

After the 4am contractions, another came at 4:30, then one at 4:50.

Finally at 5am I padded over to my sister's room and woke her up. "Will you come lay in my bed and time some contractions for me? You can sleep in between, and you just have to push a button on my phone. I'm not sure if this is the real thing or not."

"Sure," she sleepily replied and staggered down the hall to my room behind me. She crawled into A's spot and curled up with the dog and my phone. I laid beside her and waited. Eyes wide open. Waiting.

"Will it come?" I thought. "Have I jinxed it by speaking these thoughts out loud to another person?"

Sure enough, another one came, and then another and another. I tried to call A and his cell phone was off. I knew I had some time, so I didn't call the Quarterdeck right away. (Quarterdeck = where you enter and exit the ship there is a little podium check on station thing where people stand watches, etc.) I texted my sister in law and said, "How do you feel about a 3 day weekend?" (Spoiler: She was totally game.)

Contractions were coming every ten minutes like clockwork, and they were about one minute long. I was able to slowly breathe through them and stay relaxed, as I reflected how weird it was that in between contractions I felt totally normal. Soon enough, though, I couldn't just stay lying down in bed. I needed to move around. I sat on the birth ball, stood and leaned on my dresser as contractions came, and just walked around swaying my hips.

Pretty quickly the contractions jumped to one minute long and six minutes apart. After a few more unsuccessful attempts to contact my hubby on his cell, I finally broke down and called the Quarterdeck at 6:30am. Of course, he had warned everyone on the ship the last few weeks, that if his wife called, it was because we were having.a.baby. like, right then.

So, I called in. The conversation went like this:

Me "Hi, I am looking for LTJG A? ASUPPO? This is his wife."
Poor kid "Oh. Oh! Just a second ma'am I will have somebody get him right away!!"
Me ::cover my mouth while I softly giggle::
Poor kid "Ma'am, he is doing turnover right now, but he will be right up, just as soon as he can."
Me "Ok, thanks!"

-a short second later-

A "Babe?! Babe?! Are you there?!"
Me "Yup. Um, I think you had better head home...I am pretty sure this is the real thing."
A "Seriously?! We are having a baby?! Today?!"
Me "I think so."
A "Alright!!!!" ::fist pump:: "I am so excited! I will leave right now. Be there as soon as I can! Love you!"
Me "Love you too...Oh babe, would you mind picking up some..."
A ::as he is already hanging up the phone, he says out loud to the guys standing around him:: "WOO HOO! I'm having a BABY!"
Me ::to Ashley who is still chilling on my bed with me:: "He just screamed out 'woo hoo!' "

And with that, I felt a super silly, excited grin creep onto my face.

It was suddenly real - we were meeting our baby...today!


Evelyn is 11 days old

...and Evie is more and more alert every day, which means we spend more and more time staring at each other every day. and less time blogging. more soon, I promise!

Oh, and I was going to ask A to pick up bread, because we were out and I really wanted a peanut butter sandwich. Alas, I would not have one that day.