The Infamous Dec. 18th

Dec. 18th:
Oh, what a day. We got up early with high ambitions of finishing our Christmas shopping - and lo' and behold, we actually did make it out of the house before noon on a Saturday. The day started out with an open house at Charles' competitor's new emergency department. Bella got to see Santa, have her picture with Rudolph, decorate cookies, have her face painted, and enjoy the festive merriment. Charles got to check out the competitors and mix-n-mingle with all those suits. From there, we dared to head downtown in the name of Cougar Gold Cheese...which is like gold around here. We snapped up several at the WSU store, along with new gear for Bella and baby or course. Lunch in the food court, followed by scrumptious Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies and the Hall family was stuffed. Off to another shopping center where I scoped out a truly ridiculously and unnecessary baby bag...

Phew, that night we relaxed, wrapped presents, and cozied up to the fire as a family. After Bella went to bed I took up my usual spot on the sofa (all pillows present and accounted for) to watch a Lifetime Christmas movie while Charles went out to work on the garage. That's when the contractions started...and they were different...as in signs of impending labor. They persisted for several hours and by midnight we had Josh & Lina picking up Bella in anticipation of our departure for the hospital. I called the L&D unit where the triage nurse advised me to stay home as long as possible if a natural labor was what I wanted. So we did and I tried to get some shut eye. All the while, my contractions were 2-4 mins apart, 1 min or longer, and now for 5 hours. I fell asleep and when I woke up - NOTHING. Sunday morning I had maybe 1 contraction an hour or so apart... painless. Talk about disappointing!

Charles and I decided to try to walk the contractions back at Green Lake in the city. Round trip, the trail is 3 miles. Round and round we went. ZERO contractions. By 5ish I was in excruciating pain in my hips and I could barely make it to the car. We headed for Josh & Lina's to pick up Bella. We all went out for Thai food...I even ate some that was 3 out of 5 stars spicy...now if that doesn't say how desperate I am, I don't know what does.

Nothing.

The rest of Sunday went without any excitement and the wind had left our sails.