I was probably in labor and all I could think about was getting the spots out of the living room carpet. Our Friday Family day started with a trip to the donut shop. Followed by a quick stop at the Dr.'s office to get a second steroid shot for the baby's lungs (just in case I went into labor early). As I walked out the door, my doctor said to make sure I didn't have the baby this weekend because he would be out of town. No problem! I am just going home to rest...right after a quick stop in Walmart of course! I had to do something about those spots!
Somehow we walked out of the store with a steam cleaner for the carpet. Wow. This nesting stuff could get expensive. At home, I propped up to supervise while John erased my nightmares from the floor, one at a time. (What a good guy!) Dean sure was going to be sad when he got up from his nap and his "ponds" were gone. He enjoyed sitting on top of the spots and pretending it was a pond, even hopping from pond to pond like a giant frog. Yeah, the spots were THAT bad!
A little while later, the carpet looked amazing, and I was running to the restroom because my water had broken. Just like that! Sitting on the couch. John grabbed my phone and handed it to me. I couldn't dial the dr's number because I couldn't even think straight! But I finally reached him on his cell...as he was driving out of town! I told him my water broke, he said to go to the hospital and hopefully they would confirm that it wasn't my water breaking after all. A glimmer of hope! This might not be happening after all.
God had already been setting things in motion the day before and my sister Melissa had planned to come after work to keep Dean for the weekend and help me around the house. She gets off at 5:00 and works in Ft. Worth. It was about 5:30 now, so she was just a few minutes away. It gave me just enough time to hurriedly stuff a bag full of things, take a final pregnancy pic, and love on Dean for a few minutes. I was buckling my seat belt in the car John parked by the curb as Melissa wheeled into the driveway and ran inside to be with Dean.
John drove like a man with a mission. It was a debate to use the flashers or not...always tempting to try it with a good excuse! Traffic was moving well so we made it to the hospital quickly. On the way, it became very obvious that my water had really broken and it wasn't some other plumbing issue that I had mistaken for the real deal.
John dropped me at the door. I wrapped a blanket around myself and humbly walked through the main lobby, waited for the elevator (praying it would be empty!) and made it to the labor and delivery floor before John finished parking the car.
Soon, I was sporting a hospital gown, all tucked into a bed with monitors beeping all around me. The nurses confirmed my water had broken and the waiting began. And in the back of my mind, I smiled at the thought that at my cozy home, the carpets were now clean. I could relax...except for the fact that I might be having a baby 8 weeks early.
