Remembering Caitlin's Birth

Caitlin is about to have her second birthday: Here's me filling in the
gaps from the few notes I jotted down two years ago...

Babies don't often arrive on their due date, but Caitlin did.

09/30/11 The day previous
I walked to the Lockheed Martin park about 1.5miles away with my
neighbor, Sharlyn Richardson, (a sheep farming girl from Idaho. Miriam
and Sharlyn's son, Travis, were best friends and we spent a lot of
time together either at church, at the apartment pool at River Park
Place or out on the Trinity Trail biking, walking or running. We were
the resident stroller brigade.). So at nine months pregnant I was
still out walking the trail with Sharlyn, and upon arrival at the
park, the parking attendant made some comment that I don't remember,
but as we continued Sharlyn told me with a smile, "You know, I've
delivered hundreds of lambs." We both really laughed at that and hoped
she wouldn't have to try out her skills on me. It wasn't until the
next day that we realized how close we could have been to that
situation though…
Joe and I drove an hour that night to the Ikea furniture store and
stayed up late building a set of drawers and a book shelf. I guess it
was the nesting instinct working against us. We stayed up until about
2am, and then I sprang awake at 4:30am when my water broke! (I leaped
so fast that I made it without getting my sheets wet; I went from
sleeping, to feeling a pop, and then I was in the bathroom five paces
away.) The contractions started coming every couple of minutes.
Although they weren't yet painful, I had to lie down to calm myself
while Joe got dressed and helped me get a little cleaned up. Sharlyn
came to the rescue and stayed with sleeping Miriam while Joe and I
went to the hospital at 5:30am.

10/01/11 The nurses took one look at me with a towel wrapped around my
lower half and all made the correct conclusion; I was ready for the
delivery room.

My first pain was around 6:30am. I received an epidural shortly after
that (I could have withstood it a while longer, but why not right?).
Active labor began at 8am and before thirty minutes (barely enough
time to savor the occasion) Caitlin arrived! I was so surprised and
felt a bit cheated that it didn't last longer (something I'm sure I
would have been overjoyed about if not for the pain blocker). Until
then I assumed labor would always be like the three hour full body
workout Miriam required.

After greeting our beautiful newborn girl, my next thoughts were,
great—we're all here in plenty of time for the Saturday morning
session of LDS General Conference. So efficient. We listened via
internet and iphone in our comfy hospital room, by chance the same one
we stayed in when Miriam was born. The other coincidence not yet
listed is that the delivery nurse's dad lived in Toowoomba,
Queensland, Australia. Such a small world.

I had prayed for a speedy recovery, and I really received it. It
seemed like I was in far less pain and able to move myself much
quicker than after Miriam's birth. the whole event was seemless
really. I was spoiled and I know it.