Brance, Lauren & Haddie

I was surprised to be woken from sleep, not by a contraction, but rather by sunlight pouring through my bedroom window.  I got out of bed and checked the clock in our living room, 7:00 a.m.  I was sorely disappointed.  Had a restless night of painful contraction been for nothing?  Had what I had experienced been merely false labor?   Brance also woke up around the same time and we debated taking a walk to see if my labor would start up again.  But we were both exhausted and decided that since my contractions had subsided we might be better served by laying down and getting a little bit more sleep.  I’m so glad that we did; little did I realize how valuable that extra sleep would be 30+ hours later.  When we woke up after two or three hours of sleep, my contractions had started up again.  At this point they were spaced out and not very intense.  But they were there and for that I was thankful. 

To get our minds off labor Brance, Rodger and I decided to meet my parents for lunch in Christiansburg  where they had been doing some shopping.  My sister Holly and her fiance Chris met us there for lunch as well.  Brance and I timed my contractions on the way to the restaurant, which was about 30 minutes away, and during lunch.  They were coming about  every 20 minutes.  Lunch was a lot of fun.  Brance’s father and my mother are both cut-ups and we always have a good time when we are together. Lunch was especially exciting because we were anticipating and talking about  the arrival of the baby.  After lunch, we said goodbye to my family in the parking lot, promising to call once we headed to the hospital.  Of course I was on the phone with my mom several times that day to give updates.

 On the way back home Rodger, Brance and decided to take a walk in a local park to try and encourage my labor along.  It was a beautiful warm spring day and because the wooded trails at this park are so beautiful we decided to take a few pictures.  The boys were kind enough to take breaks for me during our walk when a contraction hit, as I couldn’t move during  them.  At this point my contractions were coming regularly every 15 minutes or so.  We were all a little warm after the walk, so I suggested that we get some ice cream at Dairy Queen.  Once we had gotten our order I accidently spilled a cup of ice water all over our table and on poor unexpecting Rodger.  After eating our ice cream we decided to head back to our apartment.   Brance and I resumed timing contractions once we returned home.  They were coming 10 or so minutes apart .  

My labor was progressing so slowly that I encouraged Brance to keep an appointment he had previously set to take prom pictures for a senior from our church and his date.  He was a little hesitant at first.  I told him that I wasn’t ready to head to the hospital yet, he would be taking the pictures in town,  he was a cell phone call away, and Rodger would be with me at the apartment.  I told him to go ahead and go.  I took a shower while Brance was gone.  The contraction I had while leaving the bathroom, after taking my shower, took my breath away.  It was much more intense than what I had experienced previously.  Rodger offered to help me time my contractions, which I thought would be a good idea.  They were coming about 7 minutes apart.  After Brance’s return it wasn’t too much longer before my contractions were coming around every 5 or 6 minutes and were very painful.  I certainly couldn’t talk through them.  We called the hospital and they told us that we could go ahead and come in. On the way to the hospital Brance and I ran by our church because Brance needed to drop something off.  Inspite of the pain that I was experiencing, our ride to the hospital was one of excited anticipation.  We eagerly  discussed the arrival of our little girl and we even held hands as we walked into the hospital pausing midway to the building, of course, to wait for a contraction to pass.