Thad’s Birth Story | Part 2: A Perfect, Rainy Family Weekend
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. You can check out Part One if you’re jumping in now. Or, for a more big picture overview of the pregnancy and birth, you can check out my single post about Thad’s Birth.
Over the weekend, I had a few bouts of mild contractions every 5 mins, lasting 40-50 seconds (a usual early labour pattern for me), for an hour or two, but just about the time I thought, “OK, it’ll probably start to ramp up now,” something would shift and we’d be back into scattered contraction mode.
Saturday (April 20th – 40+5) was rainy. The temptation to stay home and veg was strong, but I’m not much of the vegging kind. Even on Sabbath.
“Let’s go for a walk,” I announced to Gabe and the kids at the breakfast table (Sheet Pan Swedish Pancakes – our favourite Sabbath breakfast these days).
“Now?” Gabe asked, eying the rain falling in a steady stream off our shade sail onto the deck.
“Yeah. After we clean up the table and dishes. We’ll put boots and rain coats on – I think we all need to get out and burn off energy. Guys, we can go find some puddles!” I exclaimed to the kids, doing my best to sell them on the idea. Despite jitteriness and big feelings of the last few days from the little people in the house, everyone rallied behind the idea enthusiastically.
We went to a local reserve with a walking trail around some small lakes and had the best time! The kids got soaked stomping in puddles, and Gabe and I strolled (well, I waddled, he strolled) hand in hand after the girls as Laz bounced back and forth between keeping up with them and staying to stomp in puddles far behind us. Hardly anybody was out, and it felt like a rainy bubble gift just for our family.
Saturday night was quiet, with good sleep, and Sunday morning the Braxton Hicks seemed to be settling into mild contractions. By Sunday afternoon I was timing them, stopping to sway through them while working on making a huge pot of taco soup for dinner. Mara asked for a family picture before Laz went down for a nap since “This might be our last family picture as a family of five” she explained with tears in her eyes. She was excited for the new baby, but everyone was feeling emotional from the knowledge that the baby was coming soon, but we didn’t know when. The suspense is rough! But maybe tonight!
Laz fell asleep, contractions continued, and I even texted my friends who were on call to be available for labour support, kid support, emotional support, and photography that things seemed to be ramping up! But then 2 hours later Laz woke up from his nap and the activity of the house picked up. The contractions spaced out farther and farther, getting shorter and milder. Not the way to get a baby out! False alarm!