Birth Stories - Sam

Before my memory is completely gone, I am going to share the birth stories of my children so they will have them.

We'll start with Sam. As I shared here, we had tried to have a baby with no luck so far. After the miscarriage, we took some time off from actively trying to have a baby to let ourselves grieve. Then, we tried another few rounds of Clomid with no luck. We tried combining Clomid with Glucophage, again with no luck. We tried adding progesterone suppositories (oh, what fun!). Nada. It had been about a year since the miscarriage and our doctor referred us to Nashville Fertility Clinic. That was so overwhelming. I don't remember a whole lot of details. Just a bunch of shots, sonograms, tests, and loads of information! Long story short, we did IUI and were pregnant on the first try! Score! Of course, we were terrified about another miscarriage, and I went in for WAY too many sonograms just to make sure everything was ok. Which, praise God, it was!!

I loved being pregnant! I loved feeling every kick and wiggle. I complained my fair share about my back hurting and not getting enough sleep and having to pee too often. But I was loving every second of this miracle inside me!

At that point, I was teaching school. I only had an assistant part-time, so that was fun trying to NOT have to use the restroom when she wasn't with me. But my students and my team teacher were very understanding. (They really had no choice, huh?!) Sam was due on December 30, 2004. I had put in my resignation to my principal and was only going to work up until the kids got out for Christmas break, which was Friday, December 17. The last day of school came and went.  I had worked extra hard to get everything ready for the new teacher that would take my place the next semester. I had 6 weeks worth of lesson plans for her and tried to get everything organized. I was tired! But, I would have almost two weeks to rest and get everything ready for the baby.

That Sunday, after church, I was going to take a nap. I wasn't resting real well in the bed, so I was sleeping in the recliner. Eddie had a church council meeting at the church, so he wasn't home.  About 4:00, I woke up from my nap with a strong urge to use the restroom. Like, an oops, I'm too late. I called the church just hoping someone would hear the phone and answer.  The other minister at the church left the meeting to answer the phone, which annoyed Eddie at the time! ha! But I'm so glad he did!

He got Eddie on the phone, and I told him, "Either I just peed my pants or my water just broke." Of course, neither of us knew which it was, so he put me on the phone with an experienced mom! She couldn't officially diagnose me either, so she told me to go to the hospital. YIKES! I had been to the hospital once before with Braxton Hicks contractions and was so embarrassed when they sent me home. So I was not feeling being turned away again. But I didn't know what else to do.

Eddie came home to pick me up and while he was on his way, I packed my bag. (I planned on having two weeks to get this done!) I was so nervous as I sat there and waited on him.

To be continued....