My Man Aaron

Middle man turns 8 today. I sat here late last night (never drink coffee after 8 pm) and im'd with my friend Julia in California. I reminded her that exactly 8 years ago we were sitting in front of our computers iming about my contractions and timing them to see if I was in labor. Somewhere around 2 am we decided I was not and it was time to head to bed. I woke up early the next morning full of energy with big plans to go to the grocery store and cook meals to freeze. I even arranged for Maci to stay with friends while I shopped.

However, as I was getting out of the shower I felt that familiar thud- the same thud that happened only 2 hours before Maci was born. My water broke. I quickly finished getting ready- I would not go to the hospital without makeup or dry hair! I made 4 calls.

#1- to the doctors office. I wanted to know if they wanted me to come to the office or the hospital. She kept arguing with me- not believing that my water had broken because I was too collected. The conversation ended rather unpleasant with me deciding I would skip the office and go straight to the hospital.

#2- to my mom. I needed her to drive me the 20 minutes to the hospital. She was a little (alot) flustered about the situation because my dad wasn't home to drive us and she just knew her Cadillac could not make the trip. We'd just have to go by my Grandmamas to pick up her newer Cadillac. Whatever. Be here in 10 minutes.

#3- to my friend that was going to keep Maci....still need you to keep her but I'm not going shopping anymore...

#4- to Brad. This is it. Meet me in L&D at 9:30....do you hear me Brad? Be there at 9:30. Will you meet me there? He assured me he would.

Mother came to get me and we dropped off Maci, traded cars with Grandmama, and almost stopped at the church to beg for someone to drive for her. She isn't big on driving in traffic, in the rain, or under pressure. Today she would have to deal with all three. So when she tried to stop at the church, I told her "NO! We would be fine!" I'm sure I said it nicely though.

About halfway to the hospital, the ride became very very unpleasant. That pain I had forgotten quickly came back to memory. At least I knew Brad would be meeting me there- at 9:30.

As we got close to the hospital I started giving Mother instructions- "Don't leave me. Just let someone park the car for you. This is an emergency. They can park for you. Please don't leave me." She told me she wouldn't.

We pulled up to the ER entrance. A man stuck his head in the car window, saw our apparent emergency, and opened the door for me and told her where to park. She nodded and drove off- leaving me on the curb with a stranger and a wheelchair. The stranger wheeled me up to labor and delivery without a word. At this time I couldn't speak either. All the way up the elevator I kept thinking how Brad would be right there to meet me. Right on the other side of those elevator doors. It was 9:30. The doors opened. Brad wasn't there.

The wheelchair man parked me at the nurses station and left. The nurses looked at me without even getting up. They were waiting on me to speak. I was not able to. When the contraction ended I gave my name and told them my water had broken. They didn't seem to believe me. Why did noone believe me? One nurse informed me I was on the schedule to be induced the following day- I informed her that I would not make that appointment.

Then the best nurse in the world...the charge nurse...looked at me and said, "I'll take her. I bet she goes quick." I nodded- unable to talk again. When I could I told her I delivered my first less than an hour after getting to the hospital and I thought this one would be the same. She nodded in agreement. After getting settled in the room Mother joined us. I had her call Brad for me. He hadn't left work yet. To this day I do not understand WHY! I got on the phone and very politely asked if he would kindly get himself to the hospital. I forget my exact words but I'm sure I was very pleasant about it.

By now my dad had tried to call home several times and then tried my house to realize we must be headed to the hospital. He turned the car around and apparently drove rather quickly because he wasn't far behind us. Between my mom being mad at my dad for not having his cell phone on and me being mad at Brad for not being there, I'm sure the nurse must have thought we were quite a dysfunctional group.

At 10:00 the doctor arrived and the nurse asked me if we were going to try to wait for Brad. Was she kidding? There was no waiting. Right then, Brad came FLYING into the room and my parents went FLYING out. At exactly 10:07 am Aaron Scott Mullins was born. Weighing 6 lbs 13 ounces with just the right amount of strawberry blonde hair...he was perfect.

All in all it went well...we all arrived safely to the hospital...some of us earlier than others...but I don't ever use it against Brad. Really. I rarely remind him of the day he almost missed his first born son's birth. That just wouldn't be right.