This time last year....

Last night (12/12) of last year I sat through Summit's 6pm service having contractions, squeezing Steve's hands every once in a while.  They progressed through the night, keeping me up almost all night, only to slow down to a halt around 5am (a similar thing had happened a couple days prior).  I took a little 3 hour nap and then went to a chiropractor appointment in one last attempt to turn Charlie Belle head down.  The chiropractor had me walk like a speedy flamingo for 1 hour (not an easy task at 9 months preggo) and did a couple adjustments.  The weather was perfect!  Contractions picked back up a little but were not consistent.  Steve and I headed to the birth center expecting to be sent home.  At the birth center they checked me and I was 5cm (around 2pm, I think).  The acupuncture lady was there so they suggested I give her a chance to turn the baby one last time and get labor to speed up (granted before I found out Charlotte was breached I had never been to a chiropractor or acupuncturist).  She did her thing, poking needles every which way, and I was so uncomfortable trying to lay still and constantly having to get up and pee that I kept bending and hitting the needles.  Contractions picked up a lot and they suggested we go get something to eat because "we are having a baby tonight."  We had planned to bring food and such, but since we thought we were being sent home we didn't.  We went down the street to Crispers and I tried to eat some soup.  It was miserable. I kept walking outside with each contraction, not knowing what to do with myself, so uncomfortable and so sleepy already.  We walked right over to Publix so Steve could grab some drinks and snacks for the impending birth and I tried to walk into Publix with him but walked right out as soon as a contraction hit.  The short car ride back to the birth center felt like torture.  I was on my elbows and knees, because being strapped in on my back when I had a contraction felt like somebody punching me in the uterus while simultaneously hammering my coccyx.  When we got back to the birth center I was 7cm.  We thought, moving right a long.  Not so much.

She wouldn't make her grand arrival until after 4pm the next day.  A truly grand arrival, with lights and sirens and spinals and incisions....so different then we envisioned.  I still get palpitations thinking about it, so many fears to deal with about doing this again.  But she came, and she was perfect, and now she has been in our lives for almost 1 whole year!