I have been meaning to write Asher’s birth story for awhile now, but somehow hadn’t quite been in the mood until tonight. So here is the story of Asher Benjamin’s welcome to our world.
I felt pretty sheepish once Thanksgiving had come and gone because, after all, I had been insisting that Asher would come early due to all the “signs” I had been having (contractions and other pregnancy things that will go unmentioned for the sake of those that do not want to read about such things). Then the due date, November 29th, had come and gone, and I had prepared myself for the fact that Asher, like his sister, was in no hurry to leave his happy place.
I began to get frustrated due to the on-again off-again contractions I was having daily, but reminded myself (and prayed with some) about the fact that God had the perfect day planned for Asher’s arrival and I needed to stop trying to make it work for me. Cue Friday, December 4th. I spent that day like most Fridays had been spent of late– watching Eila, getting things done around the house, and longing for a nice nap. I noticed in the early afternoon that my contractions had picked up somewhat, but wasn’t all that excited since that had happened before. They didn’t slow or stop when resting or being active, so I did pay attention to them somewhat. Will was supposed to be home at mid-day but ended up not getting home as early as planned due to some stuff he needed to get done at work. Around 4:00pm my mom stopped by with some Jersey Mike chicken parms (which are awesome) and I sat talking with her while I ate one (Will had arrived home a half hour before she got there but was upstairs working). As we were eating, my mom commented on how I was managing my contractions, noticing that I was starting to show some discomfort and that they were coming pretty regular (about 7-10 minutes apart at that point). She asked if I thought I was in labor and I indicated I could be but didn’t want to assume after the past few days (my mom shared that she thought I probably was). After she left, I decided to just continue on as normal and chose to make some spaghetti for dinner- this also proved a nice distraction from the contractions. While I was cooking I noticed that they were getting closer together.
Fast-forward to about 8:00pm- after putting our little girl to bed, Will and I began to watch the clock more closely and put my mom on standby (she was going to come spend the night if I went into labor so we wouldn’t have to disrupt Eila). We decided to watch Ugly Betty at 9pm and I remember having to get down on all fours and breathe to manage the contractions at that point. When we hit 9:30pm and the contractions were about five minutes apart, we knew we would probably be heading to the hospital later that night.
Wanting to labor at home as long as possible, we called my mom and let her know that she should go ahead and come over, and I went to take a bath. The contractions slowed very slightly while in the tub but not by much. By the time I got out and got dressed, my mom had arrived.
Dancing in the Mundane 