The Birth of William Brawford: Part One

It's finally here! Birth Story time! Just like last time, I am going to share the story in installments, because I am detail oriented (read: longwinded) and want to preserve every little memory possible for myself and kiddos.

At the end of the story, I am going to reconfigure that Birth Story Page to include both kiddos birth stories and will have both of them available in their entirety, etc. So, yeah. That's the plan.

Onto the good stuff!

......

Friday, February 8^th dawned bright and sunshiny. I woke feeling relatively well rested and ready for the day, especially considering how sick I had been earlier in the week. Thanks, Norovirus.

In fact, I was feeling a strange sense of urgency to get things done.  I also had a fleeting thought that it would be a good day to have a baby. I felt more ready than I had in weeks.

Looking back, duh, I should have known that this was the beginning of my body getting ready for labor. Haven’t I always been a procrastinator? Clearly the fact that I wanted to accomplish things meant that there was a deadline in front of me.

I knew not much had changed in my body’s progress thanks to my appointment earlier in the week. I was still 3 cm dilated, just like I had been for weeks before.  I knew from walking around dilated at 4 cm with Evelyn that this kind of thing could go on for a while longer.

The midwives assured me that my cervix was good and ready though and with a few good contractions it would be baby time. We even discussed rupturing membranes at my 40 week appointment the following Monday – they had a light afternoon schedule that day, so they would be happy to catch a baby! Haha. Oh, midwives.

So, I got up, got dressed (in real clothes!) made breakfast for the bug and put together a plan for the day. I had my sister snap my 39 week photos (since I finally didn’t feel like death warmed over), loaded Baby Girl up in the big old rental car that we had (thanks to A’s fender bender our car was in the shop) and we headed to the bank, Exchange and Commissary.

I needed to run ERRANDS, to cross things off my list. I was so driven and productive that day. I bought healthy snacks, fruits and vegetables. It was absolutely necessary, which my husband thought was insane – he was getting off work and wanted to take the rental car back, pick up our car, etc. I tried to explain how imperative my errands were and that his would just have to wait. 

Sorry buddy, I have been in bed all week and I need to get these things done. Now.

Once I got home from my errands we did, in fact, head out to trade back the cars. It took a little longer than we thought and it was quite late when we returned. Yet, I could not be deterred from my need to vacuum the entire house. The whole house seemed so messy to me after all the projects we had been doing and I was convinced that the house was just.not.clean.enough.

How could we ever bring a baby back to this house?!  And why were all the other adults around me so FINE with the state of this mess?!

I vacuumed the entire upstairs, caring very little that A was trying to do bedtime routine with Evelyn -who cared if Baby Girl’s bed time got pushed back a little farther if it meant her floor would be clean?! I vacuumed the stairs and every nook and cranny in the hallways and downstairs of our house, much to the annoyance of my sister and her boyfriend who were trying to watch TV in the Living Room. 

Sorry folks, NECESSARY. 

Needless to say, I headed to bed that night feeling really great about where I was. I felt so good about my to-do(ne) list, that I half expected to snuggle down into the covers and for contractions to start immediately. (They didn’t.) After all, I finally had hospital bags packed, an overnight bag for Evelyn packed, and my house looked like a house again, instead of just a giant craft room.

In fact I had checked off a big task that had been hanging over my head for months that very afternoon...

While at the Exchange, I finally found and bought and dropped off at the embroidery booth an acceptable shirt for Evelyn - you know, to be made into her “Big Sister” shirt.

Yes, I had approximately nine months to procure one for her – and I failed to do so.

I win at life.

The embroidery lady asked when I needed it, explained they were a little backed up, etc. I replied that I was due on Sunday...

She simply responded by looking down at my giant belly, raising her eyebrows and saying, “Wow. How about tomorrow at 5?”

And then, after a short pause,

“You know what? I am just going to go ahead and write down my direct number in case you end up needing it sooner than that.”

As I laughed along with her, I had no idea how right she was.




Evelyn Rae is 20 months old, Liam is 5 weeks old

...and here we go!

Also, I am a huge dork and am literally so freaking excited to finally be sharing this story with y'all.