I’ve written on my blog before that I live in my memories. I’ve had this memory for 20 years. 20 years ago, today, I went into labor. I didn’t know I was going into labor because I was eight weeks early. I was set to have a Christmas baby. I thought that it was a self-inflicted reason why I didn’t feel well and I ended up going into labor late Halloween night. I was working at dfcu financial while I was in college and while I was pregnant.
The details are a little fuzzy because it IS a 20 year old memory but I remember one of the senior tellers walking down the teller line and handing out little baskets for everyone. She told us to put it in our window and I didn’t know what it was for. She came back around and was handing out fistfuls of candy for us to give our members. I thought that was such a cute Halloween treat!
What seemed like a really good idea changed when we basically had NO people come in to do business at the credit union. I spent the entire day trading candy with the other tellers and eating the candy that was in my window. I remember that in my absent minded pregnancy brain, I forgot my lunch. I just ate more candy!
I clearly remember standing in the hallway at my son’s dad‘s house and I put my hands on my hips as his mom was handing out chips to the kids and I exclaimed, “ I can’t carry this baby anymore!“ He told me that I had to and I remember telling him that I knew that but I didn’t want to. I went into labor at about two in the morning that night. I didn’t realize that’s what was happening. I was extremely uncomfortable and restless and I couldn’t fall asleep.
I thought that if I went to the bathroom that I would feel better. My mom came out of her room and told me that I should call the hospital. I thought that was kind of dumb because I was only seven months pregnant. I called them and told them what was happening and that I was 32 weeks pregnant. They told me that I need to go downtown because they did not have the capability to handle a premature baby if that was the case.
I will never forget that my Mom wheeled me into the foyer area where there was a guard sitting there and then she left to park the car. The man looked at me and said, “You look like you’re too young to have a baby.” I was so shocked at that statement and I had no response so I said nothing. What I didn’t realize is that I was in labor when that man told that to me.
I was admitted into the hospital and I spent November 1 in and out of coherency and remember that a nurse asked me if I knew what day it was because I looked so bad. A doctor came in the morning of the second and looked at my monitor and the readout of the monitor. He looked at the door where there was another doctor standing there and said, ” Labor and delivery STAT.”
I had Sean at 9:38 AM on November 2 via Emergency C-section and he stayed in the hospital in the NICU for 31 days. It was the longest month of my life! It was after I had my Halloween baby that I started to like Halloween more. It just seems different now that I’ve had this memory for 20 years and now I will have a 20-year-old child come November 2nd?! Now I have a Halloween movie to watch for the last time this year!