Five years ago today

Five years ago today I had contractions starting at 20 mins apart all day. I had to lay down and give my body some rest. My back was hurting and I didn't know at the time that I was experiencing back labor. I was waiting for pain in my stomach to give some indication I was having contractions.

As the afternoon wore on and I started timing the contractions, they were consistently about 15-20 mins apart. I remember we went out to eat and I said I needed to go walking - so off we went to the mall. It was only January 9 - I'd heard that most first pregnancies might be about a week late, so I didn't expect anythign to happen. But we only walked for about 10 mins and I couldn't go any further. We went home and I started timing the pain again and at that time, it was about 8 mins apart.

Anyway, on and on. Dave went to sleep while I stayed up in my misery. I laid on the chaise and kept track of the time between each pain. When it got to be consistently 5 mins apart, I started thinking maybe I was going to have a baby. But I kept waiting for the pain in my stomach. When it became 2 mins apart, I thought I'd better wake Dave up and get to gittin'. Good thing I didn't wait anymore because once we got inside, the nurse admitted me right away.

And so started a very long night - made slightly better with an epidural.

Then a child was born.

Anyway, today Toccoa is celebrating her last day of being 4. She smiled when I told her she would never be 4 ever again. Isn't it a great thing we are always moving forward in life? :)