3 Years Ago Today

3 years ago today, I was at work...just like today.
3 years ago today, I was in labor at work...not like today.

We live about 15-20 minutes from the hospital, and I had been having contractions since I was 25 weeks pregnant with Jule. I remember being miserable all night and waking up the next morning pretty sure that these contractions were going to bring us our baby boy. I decided to get up and go to work early so that I would not have to sit in 45 minutes of traffic on the way to the hospital, and my work is just a few blocks from the hospital.

I worked some, but I kept heading for the bathroom because my stomach was so sick. Then, I called Kevin and told him I really felt like this was the real thing and that I needed to get to the hospital. So, he came to work and picked me up. Many of my coworkers gathered around me, but I was in such a haze that I don't exactly remember a lot. I was in a lot of pain! I was 35 weeks 6 days along, and Noly had been born at 35 weeks 3 days. When I got to L&D, I found out I was dilating; and since I was just under 36 weeks, they kept me to see if I would keep going or stall out. I continued to dilate, and we knew little Jule was on his way into the world.

I thought about the date as the day progressed. It would be neat to have a baby whose birthday was 7/7...certainly easier to remember! To my surprise, 7/7 barely left, and my baby boy was born...literally minutes into 7/8. He screamed and screamed. I don't think there was a minute that he was not crying. They made a call and had some specialists come look at him, then they had to take him to another room and help his breathing. Everything happened so quickly that I really didn't even have time to get upset about them taking him from me. I had assumed his breathing would be fine since he was born later than Noly. He was in the NICU for one week and then came home to meet his big sister who was not so fond of him. She kept saying, "Daddy hold it," "Mommy, put it down. It sleep." Poor Jule :)

It took me a couple of weeks to realize that Jule's birthday was 5 years to the day that I found out I was pregnant for the first time ever. It made me weep because I realized that God gave us Jule just minutes into a date that was very significant for me. In 2003, my joy turned into mourning. In 2008, God brought me great joy. Such a seemingly unimportant detail meant the world to me...and He knew it would!