I haven’t posted a lot in a couple of days. My days are less and less being spent at home as I’m constantly over at NewFriend or OtherFriend’s house, up to my eyeballs in snotty children and coffee talk. It’s chaotic and often it feels as if my brain is dribbling out my ears in an attempt to flee the scene, but it’s FUN. I’m enjoying being around the other children and my friends and I feel stimulated. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for blogging, especially when I’m finally home in the evenings and too tired to even crack the lid on my laptop.
Can you believe that? Too tired to cruise the ‘net? FOR SHAME.
For the record, NewFriend is 36 weeks pregnant with her third (a girl, at long, long last!) as of yesterday. Around noon, she was going to run home from OtherFriend’s house to pick up some hot dogs to feed the masses for lunch and I was going to go with her. I was keeping my eye on her, hoping she’d take it easy (though she hasn’t done so before now, I don’t know what I was thinking). At the most, I could lend a hand and help her carry something. Outside, she mentioned she was feeling kinda funky. Crampy. Gassy, almost. And that it felt familiar. It sure sounded familiar to me. As she gathered the hot dogs and buns, she felt the pains more and more frequently. We discussed it and decided she should probably go in and get it checked out. Because with her second son, she went in to get induced at 40 weeks and shocked the hell out of the nurses by being 7 cm dilated already. And she hadn’t had a single contraction or any discomfort. So yeah, this was to be taken seriously.
I helped her round up her hospital bag and get things in order and drove her down to the hospital, depositing Liam with Kile at work on the way (he works just down the street from the hospital, as luck would have it). Her husband met us there but yet I still tagged along. Partially because I wanted to see if she was truly in labor and partially because if she wasn’t she might need a ride back home. To make a long story short: she wasn’t. The contractions, it was believed, were caused by exhaustion and dehydration. She was dilated 2-3, but didn’t seem to be having any sort of contractions that would cause the cervix to dilate any further so home she was sent. Her husband decided to take the rest of the day off, so she had a ride home. Regardless, I told her I’d pick up her oldest son at school and drive him home for her, so she could sit down, put her feet up and drink some water. WHEW. Talk about an exciting afternoon!
Today, I watched her like a hawk. I constantly pushed her water and tried to do as much as I could, in an effort to take some of the weight off her shoulders. She’s definitely not the type to take it easy, but if I could lessen the load any, that had to help. I’ll keep keeping an eye on her, especially as the weather warms up around here. She’s going to get darned sick of me getting after her to drink her water. I think she even called me “Mom” at one point today. Heh.
I’m on the call list. If she goes into labor in the middle of the night, I’m hoping I get a call to come down and stay with the boys while she goes in. I just want to help out. I know this has got to be stressful for her, to be bringing a third child into her family when her second isn’t even quite two years old yet. Without any family in town, it’s up to friends to help out in situations like this. I know she’d do the same for me in a heartbeat. And oh boy, I can’t wait to meet her little girl.
So wow, somehow that ended up being a post all about NewFriend and her pregnancy and me being the “clinger” that I am. I keep telling her she has to tell me if she ever wants me to beat it. But so far she seems to appreciate it. Silly girl.
Right now, I’m beat to the bone and just want to kick up my feet, watching “American Idol” and “House” and maybe catch up on last night’s “24″. It was a long day, filled with many crabby children. So crabby that I’m still feeling the ringing in my ears from it all. But I feel fulfilled.
