"labor day" 2009

Monday, September 7th, 2009:
Today began just like Saturday and Sunday. In continual shock that we had been chosen by J and slight panic wondering when baby would be born.

D left sometime in the late morning to help a friend do some yard work.

At 1:00 pm the phone rang. I checked the caller ID and it was a number I was very familiar with by now. I quickly answered the phone and our case worker said, "We think J is in labor. You might want to start packing!"

Eek!

My heart was racing but I managed to stay somewhat calm while getting all the details. J had already been to the hospital a couple of times for what turned out to be false labor. But this time our case worker was pretty sure it was the real deal. I asked her to call me the minute she found out that J had indeed been admitted.

Then I called D. He rushed home.

After taking "the call" I very clearly remember walking around the house shaking and chanting something like "oh. my. goodness." I didn't know what to do first. I'm pretty sure I showered first!

Once D got home we packed our bags in record time. (And we remembered almost everything which is quite amazing!). Then we checked flights. There was one flight leaving late afternoon arriving at our destination city at midnight. We tried to connect again with our case worker to see if J was indeed in labor before booking, but we didn't hear from her again until later that evening. J had expressed interest in us being present for the birth so we decided to gamble and book the flights.

But since it was now 2:00 pm and the flight was leaving at 4:30 pm the online system wouldn't let us book it. Never before had we tried to book flights two hours before leaving! D called the airline to confirm the flight and was told that we would have to pay for the flight at the airport.

Meanwhile, we had called a friend who would be "cat sitting" and taking care of our house while away. She was on stand by and was able to come over immediately. I remember sitting in our spare room with K quietly chatting while D was on the phone and computer stressing about booking the flights. D and I were certainly on edge!

K dropped us off at the airport I believe an hour or so before our flight left. We paid the ticket agent (too much money) for our last minute booking. And then we waited for our flight. We mostly stared into space not sure of what to do or say!

We needed to take two flights to our destination city. Our layover was almost 4 hours! During this time we booked a car rental and checked out hotels close to the hospital. We've never left the country before without accommodations booked! We were able to send out emails letting friends and family know how we were doing. And while waiting at our gate for our flight I chatted with my sister via skype. Love skype!

Just as we were about to board our flight we received an email from our caseworker letting us know that J had delivered a healthy baby boy at 6:59 pm. Both mom and baby were doing well. We wouldn't be able to be at the hospital for the birth but just knowing that they were both well and healthy was a relief. We were informed that J wanted some time to rest in the morning and we were to arrive at the hospital at 11:00 am. We boarded the plane thinking about both J and baby boy.

It was on this flight that D suggested the name T. We had one other name in mind but it was the same as a character on the movie Wolverine and D was having issue with that. (I didn't think it was a big deal but whatever!). We hoped that J would help pick his first name so we didn't do too much thinking and planning about that. I've posted about how we chose his name here.

We arrived at midnight. Got our car. Drove to the hotel we were hoping to stay at. The basic rooms were full so they upgraded us to a nicer larger room for the same price. Bonus! The room was lovely and perfect for a longer stay, since we knew we'd be there for likely two weeks. The hotel served a hot complimentary breakfast and light meal at dinner time. We took full advantage of both meals.

Then we attempted to sleep.