Sam's Birth Story, Part I: We're getting there

 *Please note: This is long. And possibly kinda boring. This record of the day is more for my own sake than for fascinating reading material. But I divided it up to make it easier to digest... and I tried to keep it free of the more graphic moments of labor and delivery, cuz let me tell you that stuff can get ugly. Even still, if you are likely to be offended by things of that nature: read at your own risk.

Thursday, December 15th was my last day of work. that entire week I had been a wreck, though. I am not positive how productive I was at work... my brain was elsewhere. I was hugely pregnant, and insanely uncomfortable. I had been having contractions all week, and was excited, hopeful, and terrified about going into labor. I thought it would happen before the 16th. I really did.
Over the past 9 months my mom has been coming over to help me clean, work on projects, prepare for baby. She came over this 'last pregnant' Thursday night. We took this picture.

My in laws arrived late Thursday evening, and even though I had declared I was going to bed early that night, we stayed up late chatting, praying, and giddy with anticipation. Tomorrow -- the day we had waited for so long! We would meet our baby boy! 
We elected to be induced on the 16th originally to ensure my doctor would be available to deliver him. She was going to be out of town for the holiday the following week when he was due. Those last few weeks before he was born my blood pressure peaked and so even though I had mixed feelings about inducing him for our own reasons, the doctor said she would be inducing us anyway to get him out of there safely. The induction had me all nervous still. I was so worried that I wouldn't handle the labor well... or the baby might not. I wanted to avoid c-section or other medical intervention...
I don't think anyone slept that night. I know Z and I did not. It was strange laying in bed wide awake-- but we didn't dare talk. We both still pretended to sleep for the other's sake. I reached over and grabbed his hand at one point, he squeezed my hand and held on. Z turned off the alarm before it ever sounded that morning at 5:30. I got up and took a shower. I spent extra time doing my hair and makeup. I know that seems silly, but I needed to feel a little bit normal-- I wanted to feel pretty.
We made small talk on the way to the hospital. Talked about the traffic-- there was none-- and laughed about the number of bags we brought with us. It was a strange kind of awkward hopeful silence. It was still dark when we hauled ourselves into the hospital. An old man stopped us in the parking lot and congratulated us. I guess we had the 'we're about to have a baby' look on our faces.
We were in for a long day, and we knew it-- but we were ready for it. Ready to get started, and ready for it to be over with becuase we were nearly bursting with anticipation to meet out baby boy.
Well, I was nearly bursting, period. I mean, you see that picture up there, right? I was huge. And ready. As... ready as anyone can be.

To be continued...