June 8, 2012


Last year on this day...
It was my due date.
We were living at camp.
And I was definitely 40 weeks pregnant.
And I had no idea about babies.
I knew about taking care of myself.
I knew about sleeping.
I had no idea about filling my whole day with a tiny little human.
And I certainly didn't know that she would have eye lashes that go on forever.

But now I know!
And now that it's June 8th all over again, it's all coming back to me..


Monday, June 13th. At Camp. It was the first day of camp work for all the summer staff. At about 10:00 am I looked out the window of Cabin 15, where we were staying, and I saw that the boys had started their weed-whacking. So, camp had officially begun. Meanwhile I was hanging out, waiting for a baby. My due date was a few days behind us and I had complete peace about holding my horses. I was actually really comfy with my 40-week belly and the baby seemed perfectly happy sitting tight. I did a few loads of laundry, played the piano, read my bible, got on Facebook, ate lunch with the staff, and generally tried to take care of my soon-to-be-in-a-labor-marathon body. I decided to walk up and down the steps behind the chapel- the big stone ones- taking giant strides, to see if that would get the baby a-moving. More out of curiosity than anything. I remember telling the kitchen girls that I still felt so normal, so comfortable. I sat on my sister-in-law's bed that afternoon and confessed that it did feel like my body was maybe getting in gear? But what do I know? The baby-having could be any day, or weeks away for all I knew. 

Lo, and behold, at 10:00 o'clock that night, I felt my first contraction while watching Shrek with a bunch of camp staffers! I think I was eating some frozen yogurt. Chocolate. Then I felt a few more contractions, they were really light and coming about every 20 minutes. I didn't want to say anything to anyone because I wasn't totally sure if what I was feeling was real. When Grant and I were making the familiar walk down the gravel road to our cabin for the night, I took a big breath and divulged the news to him- that I was pretty sure I had felt some true contractions on the couch in there. Exciting!! Knowing that things were still very early in the whole labor scheme of things, we just acted normal. We brushed our teeth and tossed dirty clothes into the basket and hopped in bed. But I was pretty wired. My mind was buzzing with possibilities of what the night might become. There was a mini tv/vcr in our bedroom (vcr! hahaha!) and I put in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers because... well, that musical is soothing to me. and I couldn’t fall asleep. 

12:45 to 3 am. Contractions started up again and were getting closer together and just a bit stronger as I laid on my left side in bed. They were still mild enough to stay laying down through them. I know that I slept short intervals, but I was waking up too often for it to feel like sleep. Grant wasn’t sleeping either. The night felt weird. I turned on Seven Brides again to see if I could relax and fall asleep. When contractions got to be 7 minutes apart (3:15 am) we decided to pack up and move home from camp. 
Contractions slowed almost to a stop while I was up packing and moving around.

to be continued.
more of the birth story coming soon!


6 comments:

A Wife and her Carpenter said...

Yay!!! Birth story!!! I'm so excited :) Having a baby is such a miracle...

Kaitlyn Luce said...

Woo! Exciting! Love it already! I'm so excited to read the rest!

Amanda said...

Can't wait to read the rest! I feel so much anticipation haha

Maggie Mizelle said...

Love that you are writing about your birth!! I am due in October and eating up birth stories right now.

nataliep. said...

love it! can't wait to read the rest!
thanks so much for blogging even while at camp. i feel spoiled!

EliseBlaha said...

So thrilled you are sharing this...

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about this blog

Hello, I'm Summer. A people-loving introvert whose hope and life is in Jesus. His promises are my passion and my ministry is homelife. This blog is a place for me to write about everyday things. Especially food. My favorite thing to do is sit around a table, lingering over a long meal with good conversation. I live with my husband and our 2 littles. We like blizzards, thrifting, grammar, guacamole, cheerful hearts, nice manners, good movies, and making simple, real, nutrient-dense food.

"If Christ be anything, He must be everything."
-C.H. Spurgeon

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