“Are you in labor? Because you’re 5 cm.” my doctor asks me.
“Only from 2 to 5 in the morning.” I reply.
“Excuse me?” he says.
“I have contractions from 2 to 5 every morning. I pace, I breathe, then they quit…just in time for my 2 toddlers to awake.” I say.
And it was true. It had happened with each of my three pregnancies. The first two I ended up in the hospital numerous times with false labor. This time I decided to wait it out at home until I was sure they would keep coming. The Friday following the doctor’s appointment, I had an idea. What if I go to the hospital during the contractions? At 5 cm and contracting, they will never send me home right? I mean I am tired of being as big as a barn, and I cannot wait to meet this baby boy. I tell Bill my plan, and he agrees. He is as tired of me being pregnant as I am. We are just ready to have this baby. I wait until the pains are good and strong at about 3:00a.m. We leave for the hospital. They admit me. We are walking the halls around 5 a.m. expecting them to stop any minute, but miracle of miracles they do not. They keep going.
At 11:00 the doc shows up to check me and asks, “What is your pattern?” One of the reasons I like this doctor is because he knows that after three pregnancies you know your patterns.
I say, “I will stay stuck at 6 cm until you break my water. Then I will have the baby within an hour. Happens every time. If you break it now, we can be done by Sabbath.” (It pays to know something about the faith of your doctor.) His eyebrows go up. I smile. I have him.
“Let’s do this.” he says.
And so in about an hour, William Andrew, the smallest of my boy babies at 9lb. 14 oz., is born. We know his name already because I had a dream about him before he was conceived. It was so real that I woke up looking for the baby. My husband thought I had lost my mind, but I tell you it was that real. Now 18 years later, I am proud that he has finished high school, and somewhat anxious that he will be off to SCAD in the fall, taking a part of my heart to Savannah with him. It is good and it is time… but time flies. God, I love that man-child. Happy Birthday William.