Time Flies

One year ago today, I was GREAT with child. I was 8 months preggo (or so I thought - my due date was March 10) and had been teaching 4th grade and coaching girl's basketball at a local Christian school. I was loving it, too! On that particular day, we had just begun our regional basketball tournament. And because it was a Christian school association, I had to wear a dress to coach. I'm not the kind of girl that wears a dress, not to mention while I'm coaching! I'm one of those coaches who is on her feet the entire game, jumping up and down and everything else. Being pregnant didn't stop me from that!

My girls had come so far and had improved so much, it was unbelievable, even to me! You see, to begin our season, we juggled a few girls and only a couple of the 10 we ended up with had ever played organized basketball before. We had a long road ahead of us and I never dreamed we would even be able to compete at the year-end tournament. We had our opening game on Thursday of that week and beat a team we had already beaten a few times throughout the season. I was beaming with pride for my team!
That game started around 1 p.m. and I arrived home about 4 p.m. With nothing to do that evening, and orders from my doctor, Aaron and I stayed at home to relax. We were just laying on the couch, well I was partially on and my belly was hanging off. As every woman who has had a child knows, I was having to frequent the bathroom. I got frustrated because it seemed as though after I had rocked back and forth several times, and with the assistance of my husband to get up, I went to the bathroom and came to sit back down. As soon as I got comfortable, I'd have to go right back! Since I didn't have to teach the next day because of the tournament, we were up later than usual. A little after midnight I had gone to the bathroom. By the time I merely got back to the couch, I started to head back. UGH! While waddling my way through the living room, I felt a gush of warmth on my thighs. Was I urinating on myself? NOPE! I couldn't stop it.

"Umm...Aaron, I think my water just broke," I said.
"What? No it didn't." he said as he stayed relaxed on the couch.
"Uh, yeah...I can't stop it and its still coming!"
Surprised, he replied, "oh my goodness, let's get to the hospital!"

He scurried through the house to pick up my bags that I already had packed and grab a few loose items. I stayed put in the living room as my water was still breaking! He quickly returned and said, "Casey! What are you doing? Let's go!" "Oh yeah, that sounds like a plan...I don't want to get this everywhere!"
After a few minutes, I felt like my water had stopped coming, so I headed to the bathroom where my wonderful husband had put some clothes for me to change into. I removed the watered down sweats I had been wearing and started the bath water. "What on earth are you doing? Let's go!" said my anxious husband. "I've got to take a shower...I feel nasty after that!" Plus, my contractions hadn't started yet, so I figured I was ok for a while. I suppose he was more anxious because he knew we had at least a good 30 minute drive to the hospital.
I quickly rinsed off and dressed and was finally ready to go. We trekked our way to the hospital and he hit every stinking pot-hole in between. My contractions started just a few minutes after getting in the car. We got to the hospital about 12:30 a.m. and I had called ahead to let my midwife know I was coming. She met me at the door and took me upstairs. The contractions were every few minutes at this point, but weren't too terrible. When we got settled in my room, she checked me and I was dilated to 3 and 100% effaced. It was just a matter of time...
About 2:30 or so, they gave me an epidural (which was amazing). At that point, we were just waiting. My midwife checked me a few times through the night and then around 5 a.m. said that I was at a 5 and projected it would be mid-morning when my baby would come. My parents were coming from Oklahoma and had left around 3:30-4 a.m. with a 10 hour trip ahead of them. They knew they wouldn't be there for the birth, but hoped to be there very soon after. They had a shift change at 7, so the new midwife came in about 7:15 and said, "you're a 10, let's deliver this baby!"
Aaron quickly woke up from the cot next to me. We weren't ready for that! We knew he would be born that day, but not so quickly! She left the room and returned a few minutes later. Because of the epidural, they had to tell me I was having a contraction. At about 7:25, I started pushing. After 2 series of 3 pushes, he had crowned. Our lives were about to change forever! The very next push, out Desmond Aaron Pontious came into this world! 7.5 lbs and 20 inches long, born at 7:38 a.m. on February 13.

My reaction? "He's not ugly!" Ouch, sorry Des. "He's absolutely perfect!" I called my mom a few minutes later as the nurses were cleaning him up.
"Mom, do you hear that baby crying in the background?"
"yes," she replied," why on earth would they have a baby in your room?"
"Well, that's Desmond - your grandson!"
"No way! You had him so quickly? I thought it was going to be mid-morning!"

 

  

 

We got the word out to other friends and family. We were such proud parents. I wanted to soak up every minute, every event, every visitor that came to see our handsome newborn. He was delightful and more amazing that I could've ever imagined! Little did I know, that little boy has brought me such pride and joy in 364 days. He has taught me so much in such little time. I love him more than I knew I could...and it just gets better every day!

Happy birthday tomorrow, Desmond. Mommy loves you so much!