Thad’s Birth Story | Part 1: Passing the Due Date
I shared Thaddeus’s birth story in installments on social media. Since not everyone is on social media, I wanted to also share the story of his birth here on my blog. This version is the narrative form version, which I wrote initially for family and friends. If you want to, you can also read the big picture overview of my pregnancy and birth with Thad.
April 15th came and went with no activity more than the usual smattering of Braxton Hicks. My intuition had told me this baby would be born after the “due” date (all my babies have – Mara was 40+2, Jem 40+3, and Laz 40+5), so we continued through the week on a normal schedule.
Every day, though, I intentionally chose one thing to do that felt like a “treat.” Monday the kids and I packed up and went to a park to do school – the sunshine was good for us all. Tuesday my friend, Nai, picked up the girls for a few hours and Gabe and I had a date with Laz at the chiropractor. Wednesday I busted into a bag of mini Payday bars I had been saving for such a time as this! Thursday I took the kids to a park to meet up with friends while I visited with the adults. Friday we went to the base for dinner so I didn’t have to mastermind our meal.
Gabe and the kids had caught Hand Foot and Mouth disease the week before. Although the kids had mild rounds and were pretty much back to normal energy and activity levels by that Monday, Gabe was pretty miserable with painful ulcers down his throat. He spent the early part of the week mostly home keeping his germs to himself, gargling salt water and swallowing Vitamin C and Zinc like crazy in an effort to get well before the baby came. We were glad for a few extra days!
I remembered to take a “due date” picture on Tuesday. And I started washing the same pair of lounge pants every night after wearing them each day because they were the only pants I wanted to go through the effort to put on.
By Friday night, it seemed like the uterine activity was getting more pronounced, but still nothing to indicate labour was approaching. Each night was a string of naps, broken by a handful of trips to the bathroom to pee and waking up to aching hips or round ligament pain and rolling over with ALL my pillows in tow to get comfortable on the other side. Like a rotisserie chicken slow cooking! Emphasis on slow…!