Office Supplies

Ways to distract while in early labor...

--Read
--Watch a movie
--Practice breathing excercises
--Visualize soothing waves on the beach
--Listen to soothing music
--Take your toddler to the emergency room

Saturday night, August 27, the contractions were getting pretty fearsome, and I wondered if it might be time to head on over to the hospital. I sat down in the rocking chair, in good view of the clock, to start timing the contractions.

Before I'd had the chance to even start timing, however, Nathan clambered up on chairs (carefully stacked up where they couldn't use them to climb up on the kitchen table) and from there, onto the table by the door. He, the big metal-rimmed basket, and the lamp, all tumbled down in a big tangle.

There was blood everywhere. Andy was at work, and I couldn't get through to his cell phone. The blood was coming from underneath lots of thick blond hair, and I had no idea how many cuts there were, or how serious it was. Isaiah very much wanted to help me clean his brother up, and brother very much did not want to let me clean him up. And I was going into labor...

I eventually got through to Andy via email. He came home and took us all to the emergency room. And the doctor stapled my son's head back together. With actual staples, just like the ones I use to attach hold multi-page documents together!

I'm glad that September decided to wait until the next day to be born. And I'm especially glad that she's a little girl. Little girls provide enough drama of their own sort, or so I hear.... but it doesn't usually involve getting covered in office supplies.