The Swell Approaches

Day 2 - Thursday, Nov 18th

I woke up about 4am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. E, who was already supernaturally attuned to the emotions of the day, crawled into bed with us around 5am, cuddled up close, and drifted back off to sleep. I laid there once again reminded of how precious little ones really are. 

L headed into work to get a few things squared away in preparation for our weekend. After dropping E off at the sitter's with a promise to go get ice cream when I picked her up, I headed out to run a few errands. The next few hours were kind of a fog. I walked aimlessly around a few stores, managing to buy discounted jars of Playdoh for E's upcoming party but forgetting to grab things that were really necessary such as shampoo. I was still responding to texts and messages, but found myself weary of explaining the circumstances over and over again. I really had no problem with people knowing, and I truly coveted the prayers that were surrounding us literally every moment of the day; it was just getting harder to be the person on the frontlines of telling others. A definitive lack of sleep mixed with an emotional roller coaster was proving to be heavier by the moment.

I picked up E at noon, and we headed off to grab some ice cream, as promised, and her simple joy over an ice cream cone was a nice little lift to my day. Lawson met us at home a little later in the afternoon, and then our pastor and friend came by to listen, to support us, to remind us of God's Word and truth, and to pray for us. And once again I was floored by just how completely God has surrounded us with His church for this time. To add grace upon grace, though - during the entire conversation with M, our pastor - which lasted more than an hour, I think - E played completely independently, with only a few moments of help from her daddy. Again, even though she did not yet know of the circumstances of the day(s), she was just supernaturally guided into behaviors that allowed peace to reign in our home. God would have still been just as good if he had allowed her to completely melt down every 10 minutes during that hour. Circumstances do not change God's infinite goodness. But His gift of mercy does sometimes allow us to experience his goodness in ways that minister to our hearts. On this day, he gave us many gifts of mercy and grace through our little E.

M left us with hope and hugs (even a totally spontaneous hug from E!), and shortly after my parents arrived to help with taking care of E over the next few days. They brought dinner, then L and I showered and finished packing for the hospital. We arrived at the hospital right at 8pm, and headed up to Labor and Delivery with our doctor's orders to begin inducing labor that evening. They got us settled into a quiet (thank you, Lord) room, and began the barrage of questions and paperwork.

After the paperwork came the procedures: IV, drawing blood, induction. I laughed silently when the nurse made an off-hand comment about the IV being the worst part (Had she read my paperwork? Did she know why I was here?!), but after four blown veins and five sticks, I was beginning to wonder if maybe there was going to be some truth to her statement. Not to mention we'd had a few friends stop by who were witnessing the entire drama unfold. I didn't mind spectators, but it did kind of add to the hilarity of the situation. I finally breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when a male nurse by the name of Charlie - brought in especially for me because I had "tiny veins" - was able to get my IV started. I told him afterwards that although my husband was the only man in the room worthy to be my hero, he (Charlie) had come in at a close second that night. :) I knew that wouldn't be the worst, but I definitely had not anticipated how bad it truly was. At one point, I had had a nurse on one side drawing blood for labwork, and another nurse on the other side poking me with an IV needle. Not one of the best moments, to be sure.

The induction was started as soon as the IV was going, right around 10pm. We had a wonderful nurse who was very kind to us throughout the entire night, offering everything she was allowed to under the moon. Our doctor came by as well, explaining the protocol for the induction and his general thoughts on how quickly things might process. We were told to expect to be in labor for 1-2 days, with recovery of up to a day afterwards depending on how things had progressed and what additional types of interventions needed to be used. Our friends, who so graciously had moved in and out of the room as was necessary, hugged us and prayed for us, then headed home around 10:30pm. The quiet opened up some opportunities for L and I to talk, to cry together, and to eventually begin settling in for the night. We were not expecting things to change much during the first night, so at around 11:30pm, we determined to try for as much sleep as possible, knowing that sleep would certainly not be easy. 

Day 3 coming soon...