Flashback Friday: My Firecracker:)

Note:  I'll post the one from 1974 next week, since this one is more timely.

July 2-3, 1994:
The day after my ultrasound, and learning we would welcome a little girl in three weeks, we packed up and headed two hours south to my MIL's house, for the annual family picnic.  But I was miserable.  Somehow I'd gotten a yeast infection; my allergies were driving me crazy, and it was extremely hot.  I was a little grumpy all of Saturday. and had trouble sleeping.

Sunday morning I woke up and discovered my mucus plug had dislodged during the night.  Not to worry; the last time that happened, I gave birth a week later.  I mentioned it to D, then went into the kitchen for breakfast.

A contraction hit me.  Okay, time to get up and walk.  Only this time it didn't go away.  The pain continued.  WTH??  I wasn't due for three more weeks?

The dilemma:  We were 2.5 hours away from the hospital.  I wasn't packed yet, and certainly didn't want to upset the family by our no-show.  Plus, I didn't want the baby born in a strange hospital, but if we got on the road, would I end up giving birth by the side of the road?  I rubbed my stomach and tried to calm down and make a decision.  Another thing:  What would we do with 2.5 y/o K?

The family assured us they would take care of K, so we threw our clothes in the suitcase and left.  I took a pad of paper to chronicle my contractions.  And what happened next was Divine Intervention.

The hour it took to get from MIL's to I-70, my contractions were mild, and 15 minutes apart.  Once we arrived on the interstate, they increased in pain and went to 10 mins apart.  When we hit I-465, they were painful and spaced at 5 mins.

At this point, I was remembering my pain level with K, and getting hungry.  We began talking about showing up; being told I was only dilated at 3cm, and we'd go grab a pizza at the Ale Emporium, who had fantastic pizza and huge salads with wonderful homemade parmesan ranch dressing (I'm getting hungry typing this, ha ha, but they no longer exist).

We arrived at 86th and Township Line; suddenly contractions went to 4 minutes apart, and I began yelling at the slow car in front of us.  We followed that damn car all the way to the hospital.  We pulled up behind them; a pregnant lady got out, sipping on a soda.  I waddled past her, refused a wheelchair, and panted through a contraction at the triage desk what had happened.  It was now 11am.

Triage checked me.

"I'm only at 3, right?  Let's go get that pizza."

"Um, no, honey, you're at 8cm.  We need to get you into a room."

"EIGHT?  What happened to three?"

11:30:  I'm in the LDR room, being prepped.  Dr. S walks in.

"Hi Molly.  Just couldn't wait three more weeks after all?"

"Oh good; they called you!  What did you, drive 100 mph just to get here?" (He lives 30 mins from the hospital in GOOD traffic)

"No, I just happened to be upstairs checking on another patient when I got word you were down here.  I haven't even looked at your ultrasound yet."

"Go look at it; I think we've solved the problem of my sudden weight gain!"  A contraction hit and I began crying a bunch of expletives that would make a sailor proud.  I felt myself being rolled over.  "Why?"

"You pulled out your IV.  We have to give you a shot."

"Damn it!"

D calls my parents house.  "It is now 11:40 and we're starting to push."

Half an hour later, at 12:10pm, my beautiful daughter was born.  I later joked that Dr. S had scrubbed up, turned around, and caught her.  The nurse had actually delivered her!  S weighed in at 7 lbs, 9 ozs.  As soon as I was moved, I asked for food.  I didn't get any until three pm.  My roommate was being discharged as soon as we arrived, so I grabbed her phone and began making calls.

My dad arrived later that afternoon, and so did other family members.  My mom called from Florida; she had been in the air and when she arrived at my grandma's, Grandma met her at the door with 'She's here!"

"Yes, I am."

"No, your granddaughter's here!"  And explained what had happened.

Three weeks later, Miss S finally met her grandma:)

We spent thr 4th in the hospital, watching the fireworks from the window. When I arrived home on the 6th, D drove to Terre Haute to pick up K.  When he walked in, he was in tears.  I'd just put S down in her crib; I grabbed my son and held him for several minutes, then took him in and showed him his new baby sister.

Next Month:  Can a one month old go in the pool?

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Present Day:
Happy 4th of July!  I plan to sing the following songs tomorrow at karaoke:

Hand In My Pocket
Happiest Girl In The Whole USA
Hard Days Night
God Bless The USA