WOW! On the day Coco was born, I was taken off bed rest 4 days prior. I was 4 cm dilated and had been having contractions for months. I just didn’t know it. I thought I was constipated or something, and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t go to the bathroom. I had so much sympathy for people who stayed constipated – I just didn’t know how they dealt with that pain all the time. When I finally went to the hospital, that’s when they told me I had been having contractions, was still having contractions, and was 4 cm dilated. I stayed in the hospital for two days. The contractions stopped, but the pain didn’t go away.
For the 1st two weeks of bed rest, I was at home, alone. My dad and my grandmother took care of Lulu for me, for those 2 weeks. Boy, was I grateful! The 2nd two weeks I stayed with Lulu at my dad’s house. I was taken off bed rest December 30th – at the end of the 4th week of bed rest, and at the 37th week of pregnancy.
On the 31st of December I tried to walk up and down the hallway outside of my dad’s condo, but I was in so much pain that I barely walked 2 feet. It was like that until January 3rd – a Tuesday. I woke up in the morning with contractions. I called my dad, told him I was in labor, and told him that once he left Sam’s Club, to come and get me, but that I didn’t need him to leave immediately. Little did I know that that little statement would cost me.
At that time my niece was over too. I got her and Lulu in the tub, I showed or bathed, and we all sat on the couch waiting for my dad to come get us. I called my 2 girlfriends – my labor “coaches” – and let them know I was going to the hospital soon. Since the hospital was 30 minutes from me, but a little closer to them, they said to call when I was on my way.
My dad showed up at 12:00pm – 4 hours after I called him. Sam’s Club is big, but it ain’t that big. I promise you. He walked in the door, I started getting the girls’ coats on, and he asked if he had time to go to the bathroom first. Seriously, daddy? Seriously? He later told me that since I told him he didn’t need to leave immediately, that the baby wasn’t coming soon. Lawd a’mercy! I was HURTING! The only words I remember saying was “I will be too late to get the epidural. I will be too late to get the epidural” over and over. Between contractions.
So, we finally got to the car around 12:25pm, but then I had to transfer the car seat. I had to stop for each contraction. We got on the road at 12:30pm. I swear my dad was traveling slower than the speed limit and that I was going to have a baby on the side of I480. We didn’t have time to drop the girls off, so he dropped me off at the emergency room. Which was under construction. So I was asked walk (about a mile) to another entrance. When I explained that I was 1. in labor, 2. could barely walk another pregnant (and young) woman offered to push me in the wheelchair and I took her up on it. I felt bad, but I also appreciated her generosity. So she wheeled me (the mile) to the elevator and up to L&D.
And of course they wanted to ask me the 50 bazillion questions I’d answered 100 times before. And then I found out that my doctor wasn’t going to be there in time since his secretary didn’t notify him that I was on my way to the hospital. I guess she thought I’d labor into the next day – although my first labor was short. Anyway, the next words I heard was “It’s too late to give you an epidural.” While someone may have said that quietly my response was an all out SCREAM. Are you kidding me? And then the doctor slammed the door, raised him voice, and told me to shut up – that with two more pushes the baby would be out.
And she was. Two more pushes. And I found out that my little bean, the one who laid me flat on my back, was a girl. That she had a head full of hair like her big sister – who would turn 2 in 8 short days, and that she was a feisty one. She wasn’t named until right before we went home from the hospital.
And in case you missed it, I labored alone. My girlfriends didn’t make it in time, and my dad didn’t make it back in time. But my girlfriends were there when Coco was taken away because the doctors thought I was having a stroke and they needed to divert all of their attention to me. That was the only time she left my side. I was okay though. Until the resident decided to sew me up, and happened to forget that I didn’t have drugs.
But at the end of the day, if I was to get pregnant again, I would want a natural labor. The recovery from labor with no drugs was awesome. I was up and walking within minutes. And my legs didn’t swell like they did after Lulu was born. I felt good.
Now my baby girl is 6. She’s in kindergarten. She’s so independent, and fearless, and smart. She makes me laugh every day. And she tells me every change she gets, how much she loves me. And I love her too. More than she can imagine. To God and back.
You wanna know how much I like lemon trees? This is my 4th one. I didn’t realize until after I received my delivery that Fast Growing Trees was based out of Charlotte, NC which may be the reason why it arrived so quickly. Although delivery was expected to take a few days, it took 1 day! 
The plant did sit, opened, in the house for a few days until I could get to the store for dirt, and I repotted it this afternoon. The tree appears to be healthy, about 1 1/2 years old, and ready to deliver some awesomely smelling blooms in just a few months. I cannot wait! I did get it planted a little crooked, although I didn’t notice until I was already done, but I’ll continue to prop up the tree until it gets more established.
Today was my first gardening day of 2012, and although I don’t expect the weather to get colder before spring, if it does, I’ll just bring the plant indoors for a few days or weeks. Here’s 2 last pictures of the other 3 lemon trees. The ones that’s not in bloom was left outside this winter, but the 2 that are blooming came in the house. They smell so good. It will be fun to just grab a few lemons off the tree this coming fall, and then make lemonade with the girls again.
