How it all went down

As you probably know by now, Lola Morgan Wade was born at 4:14 a.m. Friday, Sept. 3, 2010. She was 3 1/2 weeks early. Surprised us a bit! I had a doctor's appointment last Tuesday. I had been having a lot of back pain, but no contractions. I had gone from feeling really good (I walked 5 days the previous week - 2 1/2 miles each day) to feeling really sluggish and achy in a matter of a couple of days. I thought, "Either she's coming early, or this is going to be the longest month ever." So, when I went on Tuesday for my 36-week check-up I told my doc how I'd been feeling and asked her to check to see if I was dilated (she hadn't planned to check me until 38 weeks). She did, and I was 1 to 2 cm and 75% effaced. She said she didn't think I'd make my due date (Sept. 29), and she gave me a 40% chance of not making my next appointment (which would have been today!) After that we ran all over Springfield picking up last-minute things we still needed - the big one being the pack n play with bassinet that she would sleep in for the first few weeks/months of her life.

By Wednesday, my back was hurting worse. I was already not planning to work Labor Day weekend because of my back, but Matt was scheduled to work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I was sure we'd make it through the weekend, but, I decided to make up an alternate schedule sans Matt and laid it on my desk. I made sure bills were paid, orders were placed and all was ready for Labor Day weekend to go on without us. Just in case.

Thursday brought more of the same... back pain was worse. Matt worked on Thursday, and I stayed home, cleaning, organizing Lola's room and washing her sheets and clothes. I was dying to go for a swim, so when Matt got home we drove down to the lake (down a rather rocky, bumpy road, I might add) and swam for about an hour. That was probably around 4 p.m. - just 12 hours before Lola would be born.

We came home from the lake, Matt grilled burgers, and I settled on the couch with a heating pad and about eight pillows in an effort to make myself comfortable. Finally, at about 7 p.m. I called my cousin Megan. I remembered she had "back labor" with her pregnancies. I knew she had gone to the hospital thinking she was in actual labor (turned out to be a false alarm), and I wondered what made her go to the hospital. She said she could feel actual contractions in her back - mine, however, just hurt constantly. I said, "I don't know what to do... I wish my water would break, and then I'd know..." And, about 2 minutes later, it did. It kinda scared me, so I didn't tell her, I just said, "Ok, I gotta go. I'll call you later," and I hung up. I looked at Matt and said, "I think something just happened." He sprang up and started getting our stuff together. Most of it was in the car already, as we had packed our bags and loaded them in the car when we went to the doctor on Tuesday. We got on the road a little before 8 p.m. and headed to Springfield.

I called my doctor's office and got the answering service, of course. I told the gal to let my doctor know I was headed to Labor and Delivery. Turns out, my doc wasn't on call that night, but at the time I didn't care. I figured she'd probably be on duty by the time we actually had her. As I was talking (we were still on Highway W), three deer ran out in front of us. Two big deer, and then a baby deer. We hit the baby deer. (Actually, we just ran right over it.) I yelled out, and the woman on the phone said, "What??" I said, "Um, we just hit a deer... we're fine." Physically we were fine (and so was the car), but I couldn't help thinking... "We're on our way to have a baby, and we just creamed a baby deer. This cannot be a good sign."

Then I got a text message from Megan that said: "Don't think you're waiting for your water to break... it doesn't always happen like that." And I replied: "Yeah, well, it did, and we're on our way to the hospital!! Oh, and we hit a deer."

Next obstacle was the weather. We could see lightning ahead, and apparently Springfield was under a tornado warning (luckily, it expired before we got there). The day before, Highway 60 had flooded, and we didn't know if we would even be able to get through. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem - a section of the highway was down to one lane, but at least it was open, and there was hardly any traffic. (Oh, and I forgot to mention a few thoughts Matt had as we were driving to the hospital - "Should I call Chris and see if we can get a police escort?" and "Maybe we should stop in Ava and put you in an ambulance.")

We arrived at the hospital a little before 10. At this point I was pretty uncomfortable. They checked to make sure my water had actually broken and then admitted me to Labor and Delivery. The next hour and a half or so is a bit of a blur. I was in a lot of pain while waiting for the epidural to arrive. Once it finally got there I was able to relax and actually have a conversation with Matt and our RN, Zoe. I met Dr. Hamilton for the first time - he's in the same practice as my doctor, and as quickly as things were progressing, it looked like he would be delivering our baby. The rest of the night/morning went by quickly. Lola arrived at 4:14 a.m. without any complications. (She was obviously in a hurry to get here!) Why? We're not sure, but we think maybe it's because 1. It was Labor Day weekend, and she knew we really didn't want to work. And 2. She wanted to see Mizzou's season opener against Illinois on Saturday. And the Tigers won!

We came home late afternoon on Sunday. Things are going well so far. We're tired, but besides that, Lola is a pretty content baby. She eats and sleeps (and dirties her diaper frequently). She's starting to be a awake a little more, but mostly, she sleeps.

Enjoy the pics. If you click on the slideshow you can view the album and the photos one-by-one. There will be many more pics to come! Thank you, everyone, for all the well wishes. We can't wait for you all to meet her!