One year ago today...

...was our last day as a "couple." I'm serious when I say I want to document Brooke's birth - for my own recollection, because sometimes the details already seem hazy to me and I want to remember every second of waiting for my baby girl.

We had everything ready for the baby - just look at her crib. We went to a nice dinner at Chili's, just the two of us. It was our last date, even to this day. It was packed. I couldn't get a seat to save my life while we were waiting. Everytime one opened up, someone else grabbed it before I had the chance. (Wouldn't want to let the puffy, about-to-burst pregnant lady get off her feet, would we?) I was forced to squeeze into a booth (you'll see why that was torture in just a few minutes). The waiter offered me alcohol, until he saw my belly. I had a burger and strawberry lemonade of some sort, and Jim had buffalo chicken fajitas with diet coke. It was delicious.

After we got home, I put my feet up. Techically, I was still on bed rest. Of course, I painted my toenails a lovely red color (good thing, too, the first thing the dr said to me was, "You painted your toenails!" And, completely unplanned, they are painted the same color today) I finished gathering my stuff for the hospital, and off we went. I was huge and so ready to get that baby out of me! I had high hopes of being able to labor quickly and have her on the 19th (although I knew this was a long shot), and even higher hopes of being able to do all this without any pain meds!

We got to the hospital at 8:00 pm as scheduled. By the time I was checked into my room and situated, my Cervidil was started at about 9:30 pm. I wasn't allowed out of bed or off of my back for two hours once it was started, so I settled in very uncomfortably. I counted down the minutes until 11:30. Seriously why is it that when someone tells you that you can't move, you want to just get up and run?

It wasn't too bad. I just chilled and ate ice chips. Around 11, Jim and I decided to get some rest - who knew how fast this would work? We no sooner settled in for bed than the contractions started. At first, they just felt like regular monthly cramps - nothing I couldn't handle. Of course, Jim was already asleep. They never got too intense that first night, but I felt them - and they were ALL in my lower back. I ended up getting out of bed as soon as I was allowed and sitting in the rocking chair. The nurses kept telling me to rest because I was going to have a hard day the next day (Um, thanks, got that), but I just couldn't stand to lay on my back with what felt like crampy spasms in my lower back, and if I moved to my side, they would lose the baby's heart rate on the external monitor. (She loves rocking in rocking chairs, I guess it started way back then). When I was sitting up, I was still feeling the cramps in my lower back, but they were much more tolerable (kind of just an annoying sensation, but not as tight as when I was laying down). So there I sat as the 19th turned into July 20.....