Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. What's not to love about a holiday centered around food and family. And food. I was very much looking forward to the holiday itself and the long weekend. Thanksgiving 2011 did not disappoint. Blake's mom, Larry and his sister Samantha all came to Fort Worth for the occasion, which added to the fun. My parents always host it at their house. I stuffed myself silly, as usual. Blake showed off in the quirky annual Moses family football scrimmage (also as usual). Samantha and Randi pretended like they were going to "be good." No one is ever "good" at a Moses family Thanksgiving. The food is too delicious. We started a new tradition and somehow ended up at IHOP on Thursday night for a late-night snack.
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| Annual picture of girls watching boys play football on Thanksgiving day |
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| With mom and Randi (mother-in-law) |
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| With Blake and his sister Samantha |
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| Mom rubbed my feet after most everyone had left the Thanksgiving extravaganza |
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| Post-Thanksgiving IHOP Party |
Friday evening we were invited to stop by the Blum house for dessert. Many remarks were made related to my huge belly, ridiculous waddle, etc. etc. The general consensus seemed to be that I "looked ready." I scoffed at such comments. I was only 36 weeks pregnant, and I just KNEW I'd make it to my due date.
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| That is one LARGE belly! (At the Blum house for dessert) |
On Saturday night we went to dinner at Terra. I was sad that the long weekend was drawing to an end. I was also weirded out that we'd be saying goodbye to Blake's family and that the next time I would see them would be a few weeks later when I was in labor and/or once Ryder had arrived. I had felt hyper-emotional all weekend, and it mostly had to do with Thanksgiving being over (since Thanksgiving was the final "milestone" prior to Ryder's due date). In fact, during the Thanksgiving meal I had looked at Blake, with tears in my eyes, and pointed out that this would be our last Thanksgiving as a family of two. Little did I know that it would be one of our last meals as a family of two!
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| Last meal with Blake's family before they left town. Also last dinner at a restaurant before Ryder's surprise arrival. |
Blake's family left at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning. In fact, Blake and I didn't even wake up to bid them farewell. We said our goodbyes the night before, and they let themselves out the door to head to the airport. I actually had quite the fun/relaxing day planned for Sunday. Blake and I met some of my Country Day friends for brunch (Jason and Jessica Werner and Emily Williams) at Cafe Brazil. They had been in town for the holiday. I'm sure they secretly gawked at my largeness.
After brunch I headed straight to Massage Envy for a prenatal massage. It happened to be my best prenatal massage yet. It was heavenly. I had a few previous prenatal massages during the pregnancy, but this one was far better. The therapist had a special pillow which allowed me to lay on my belly. It was the first time I was able to lay on my belly in months. After the glorious massage, I headed to Arlington to meet my friend Gara for a pedicure date. It was also heavenly! What a luxurious day filled with friends and spa treatments!
I got home at around 4:30 p.m. At around 5 p.m., I started to feel like crap. I can't really be more specific. I just felt like crap. I was suddenly exhausted and it was an unnatural and sudden exhaustion. I voiced my complaint to Blake. As the evening progressed, I felt crappier and crappier. I wondered whether I was coming down with something, but I had no other symptoms other than the exhaustion and general feeling of crappiness. Despite feeling awful, I felt the need to fold boat-loads of baby laundry, which I had washed and dried the day before (::read between the lines --> I was nesting::). At about 9 p.m., I felt lousy enough that I took my temperature. It was 100.3. I told Blake that if I woke in the middle of the night with a higher fever, we would probably need to head to the hospital. All I knew was that fever + pregnancy = not good. At 10 p.m. it struck me that I hadn't felt Ryder moving much for the last few hours. I laid on my side (per doctor's instructions) so that I could do a kick count. Sure enough, Ryder wasn't moving around as much as he should.
Trying to stay calm, I asked Blake to get me some juice. We only had grapefruit juice. Yuck. But in accordance with doctor's instructions for such a situation, I needed to drink some cold juice, lay back on my side, and continue to count kicks. After drinking the juice, I felt Ryder move within about 5 minutes. Phew! After feeling several successive kicks, I experienced an intense sense of relief. I turned off my bedside lamp, rolled over and shut my eyes. Less than a minute later, I felt a small gush.
I really don't know what exactly I thought. I knew that something weird had happened down there. You often hear about women whose water breaks and they think they've peed themself. I did not think I had peed myself. I knew that my bladder was empty and this just felt different. Even though Blake was laying right beside me, I didn't say a peep. I just quickly rolled out of bed and high-tailed it to the bathroom. When I was a few steps from the toilet, I felt more gushing. That's when I turned to Blake and said "I think my water just broke." He said "nuh-uh" (with the sound of disbelief in his voice). I sat on the pot and knew with out a doubt that I was leaking amniotic fluid. I was in shock. The word shock really doesn't even do any justice. I was beyond shocked.
And so begins my birth story...
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