Driving to Choir on Thursday I went a different way so I could pick up a friend. Google maps led me onto a street whose name I did not recognize. However, when I got there I remembered doing a u-turn on this street 7 years ago.
It was Christmas Eve 2001 and my parents were staying with us celebrating. I was 8 months pregnant with Julia, who was due on January 29. In the middle of the day, I started to feel queasy. Not too long afterwards I started throwing up. It was a classic stomach flu and I could keep nothing down, not even the smallest sip of water. Meanwhile my mom carried on with Christmas Eve hors d'ouerves and the big dinner.
I came downstairs after a while to try to join them at the table. One by one, everyone else vacated the table. Luke was not sick, but not feeling too good. Meanwhile I was terribly dehydrated and feeling some contractions. I called the doctor and they told me to go to Labor and Delivery. I had stopped throwing up non-stop at this point and as we were heading to the car, Luke was looking very green. He grabbed a trashcan to bring with him and there was no choice but for me to drive, even though I was sick and possibly in labor. So I drove down Union Avenue, turning into the mystery street for Luke to throw up and dump out the can.
I got checked into L&D and was having contractions and still throwing up occasionally. Luke was very sick as well. The nurses took pity on him and were trying to care for him too. The easy things to stop my contractions didn't work and so they started harder stuff. They told me that next door there was a woman due at the same time whose doctor was just letting her have her baby, but they were trying to stop mine from coming. This was just fine with me as the thought of giving birth while battling the stomach flu was less that appealing. They finally stopped my contractions but then kept me in the hospital for a few more days.
We celebrated Christmas when I got out. Luckily Nathan was only 18 months old, so he was none the wiser that Christmas Day had passed with his parents gone and his grandparents sick and trying to care for him. He wasn't sick. He had thrown up a few nights before and we didn't know why. Now we did!
Anyway - Luke and I laugh about the Christmas that wasn't and me driving myself to the hospital that night.
In the end, I had Julia on January 22, 2oo2 and it was the easiest most beautiful birth! (yes I thought women were lying when they said that because Nathan's birth was terrible but Julia's really was so peaceful and easy but that's a future post).
Some pictures:
4 comments:
What a great post.. Love the pics too.
What a story! Love the pics!
Great memory! Thanks for sharing that with us!
How funny, the memory coming back to you like that. I loved seeing you so young in those pics--because even though we both seem perfectly normal and just the right age in real life, those pics of even just 8 years ago remind me of how young we used to be! You'll think the same if you jump over to my blog and see the pics of me and baby G and Macey. : )
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