Bowman West

Where to start?

I promised a post about Sarah Jane's arrival so I guess I'll start with the drama. Back in December Andy was invited to give a major presentation at a conference in Vancouver, Canada in May 2010. We did the math and found that I would be 35 weeks pregnant at the time of the conference. My pregnancy was going well and Charlie didn't come until 38 weeks so I felt fine giving Andy the green light. Besides, conferences are important in academic medicine, and being in academics myself I have a great respect for research and presentation opportunities. After all, I'm an independent women -- I'd be fine while Andy was across the continent.

Fast forward to May. As the conference approached we were getting a little anxious. I had been contracting since March (fun times) so we consulted our OB to make a final decision about Andy's trip. He confirmed that nothing was happening on the labor front so I sent Andy on his way. Everyone thought we were crazy but I knew everything would be fine. May 2nd -- around 6 pm I was loading the dishwasher when the phone rang so I hurried to the living room to get it but I missed the call. As I headed back to the kitchen I was distracted and tripped over the step leading to the dining room. I totally ate it, hitting my knees really hard and landing on my belly. Oops. For a second I didn't worry until I remembered that there was a baby in there. Shoot! I got up, made sure there was no pain, and went on about my business. Charlie saw it happen and the first thing he asked was if the baby was ok. Sweet boy.

Anyway, I knew I was supposed to take any degree of fall seriously so I texted Andy to let him know what happened and he urged me to contact my OB. I did and he said I needed to go to labor & delivery for monitoring just in case. Boo! I told Andy that I didn't want to go and he said, "Hold on. I'll call you right back." Five minutes later I heard a knock on my door. It was my neighbor, Adria. Andy had called her for reinforcements. Smart move, Andy, smart move. He knows Adria could get me to do anything. So Adria drove me to the hospital while her sister (who had just arrived in town from Canada!) camped out on our couch to watch Charlie. By this time it was around 10:30 pm.

So I got to the hospital and they hooked me up to monitors and checked everything out. I was contracting pretty regularly at this point. "You're 2-3 cm & 75% effaced." WHAT??!! Uh oh. Let's wait it out and check again in two hours. "You're 4 cm." Ummm, Andy...how long does it take to fly from Vancouver to Charlottesville? Let's wait some more and check again first thing in the morning. You're 35 weeks so we're not going to do anything to stop your labor if it progresses. 7 am..."You're 5 cm. We're going to admit you." HOLY COW! Andy hops on the first plane out of Vancouver.

Me to Andy: Don't worry. I'm fine. I'm very brave so I can do this without you if I have to.

Andy: NO! You have to wait until 7:30 tonight. My flight gets in at 7:00.

Me: Ummm...

Anyway, I waited around all day feeling fine with no progress. Several NICU peeps came by to check on me and make fun of Andy (I did too) which I thought was really nice. Andy arrived at 7:30, just like he promised. Because they trust Andy (not me so much) and we live only 3 miles from the hospital, they discharged me at 5 cm, 75% effaced with strict instructions to return quickly if anything changes. I think we went back twice that week convinced that Sarah Jane was on her way. It was a no-go both times.

Fast forward to 37 weeks, May 14th, in a strawberry patch somewhere below the Blue Ridge Mountains...

(to be continued...)