The day my life would change forever was 1-year-ago today.
It was 4am. I crawled back in bed to wake up my husband. “Somethings not right – I think we need to go to the hospital.”
After a quick call to the midwife, we went back to bed…to wait for another sign – cramping, contractions, etc. Our midwife, Loree from Aurora Medical Center in Oshkosh, advised us to come in at 9am if we still didn’t have any contractions – so at that time we were on our way.
They hooked me up to the heart monitor and took some fluid samples. Turns out my 4am scare wasn’t my water leaking…but the midwife said she’d be willing to bet she’d see us again later that night! She sent us home to rest.
Justin and I headed to breakfast. After all, we like to eat…and this may be our last chance to dine out together (you know, because husbands and wives can’t eat out together once they have kids;))
After our big breakfast we went home to sleep. Around 3pm, Justin said we should probably get up and moving to get things rolling – so we headed to Walgreens for hospital snacks. 50-some dollars later, we had enough snacks to feed the entire hospital staff!
I was hungry again…go figure-so we headed to Backyard Grill for supper. After numerous comments from the waitress on how uncomfortable I must be (I was huge!) and after stuffing my face between contractions-Justin said it was probably time to get home so that I wouldn’t go into labor at the restaurant!
We headed home-I jumped in the shower and started yelling out my contractions so that he could keep track. After a nice long shower, I crawled back into bed to take a nap. It wasn’t much longer when Justin came in and said it was time to go to the hospital.
I wasn’t ready yet, but luckily he paid attention in our birthing class because had he not-we probably wouldn’t have made it to the hospital in time!
We got to the hospital about 7:30pm. They hooked me up to some monitors, Justin texted my sister to head to the hospital and my bestie, Amanda so she could photograph everything for us. I had no clue that skipping the epidural would mean a much faster labor…but I lucked out! After a fun “splash” in the tub, a little labor ball time, and my amazing hubby and midwife’s support through it all – Wendy (my sister) and Amanda (my friend/photographer) made it in the knick of time. Our baby boy was born at 10:36pm.
Now, some people just want their birth to be private – even I did to an extent. But…looking back at images of the day we welcomed our sweet boy into this world is priceless and well worth it! Please, if you are considering it, ask a friend or family member…even a photographer (me, hint-hint!). You can never get this day back, and I’d hate for you to miss out on these images!
Amanda – thank you so much for capturing these for me! It took me an entire year to get them up, but I love them just as much now as I did the day he was born! And…Justin and I are forever grateful to you for capturing these sweet photographs!
Conrad Carl:
To round off the year – and his 1st birthday, here are some images of Conrad’s 1st birthday party:
