October 12, 2009

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.


Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.


Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.


Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

October 4, 2009

Welcome to the World

Welcome to the world Tristan!

Academy, home, dinner with my in-laws and Justin, bed. Nothing really out of the ordinary for a Friday except the occasional belly twinge in the evening, but even that wasn't suspect. Went to bed and woke up at 1. Contraction or movement? Either way it went away quickly and I went back to sleep.

Woke up at 2:30...now this was something. But it was later than anything had ever started so I thought it might not be anything real, just a warm up. It was enough though that I had woken up enough that I wasn't falling back asleep. And it wasn't an isolated incident. At 3 I took a shower and things went from not very close to seemingly close but I wasn't timing and had no idea how long I had been in the shower so I didn't really have an idea where things might be at. Got dressed and decided that I would feel better if Justin's mother, who was going to come watch the kids, came over so when it was time to leave we didn't need to wait. She called on her way over to see how things were going and if we were going to rush out as soon as she go there, I told her I didn't think so. I realized I hadn't called the midwife yet so I put in a call to her and waited her return call. My MIL arrives, waiting for the call back but now I've decided we need to leave as soon as I talk to her, or maybe before and I'd talk to her on the way in. Call comes in, we head out.

As I'm walking to the car I get a contraction that stops me in my tracks. Bending over and looking down at the grass I am seriously thinking that we may not make it to the hospital. The more I thought about it I didn't know if I would make it back in the house. Looking at the grass I thought that I might deliver right there. But I didn't so the story continues.

We get into Grandma Tallo's car (so now added pressure to be able to make it to the hospital!) and off flies Justin. Definitely broke speed laws and ran lights. Not thinking about the difference between my van and this car, I urge him not to slow down over the railroad tracks - biggest mistake of the night! Needless to say I was much more patient crossing the second set of tracks.

A little relief sets in as we pull up to the entrance, Justin drops me off and I waddle in. The receptionist looks at me and has a really nice security guard wheel me up to labor floor. I get to triage and get the impression that she doesn't realize I am as far as I think I am...and I'm sure hoping I am as far as I think I am so I don't feel foolish!

"How far apart are the contractions?"
Not ever really have timed them, just knowing there were a lot going down Morgan Rd, I give her the "correct" answer of 1-4 min.
"For how long?"
Again, no clue. "30 min to an hour"
So this is when her skepticism kicks in. Usually that spacing has to keep up for awhile before anything is really getting there so I couldn't blame her but I knew I wasn't at the beginning of labor.
"And what where they before that?"
Again, feeding the "correct" answer..."5 min"
That seemed to settle her so she went on to get the monitor ready. Believing I didn't have time to get the time they wanted on the monitor before this baby came I asked to be checked first.
"Oh...9 and a half...let's get you going here!"
So me and the bed take a short roll down the hall to the next room and less than 10 min after arriving at the hospital Tristan Robert arrived at 5:27 am.