Thursday 13

(Link in meme-roll)
13 Things I Remember About This Night 19 Years Ago

1. We ate at Applebee's, which--then--was a pretty hip place to eat.
2. I had my usual chicken tortilla salad thingy.
3. At the time I thought perhaps this wasn't quite the best foundation for the next day's work.
4. We also were very aware that this was the last night of that life.
5. Packing. I took the most ridiculous stuff: pajamas (not a nightgown), a robe, music...a full suitcase. Dumb.
6. I felt ridiculous climbing into the hospital bed feeling not at all sick, albeit hippo-sized and -shaped.
7. The night nurse was very calming. Probably about 45 or 50, matter-of-fact and sensible.
8. I started feeling kinda achy and crampy in the early morning hours, but kept trying to sleep. It was Just One More Thing after 41 weeks of Things.
9. The morning nurse came to check on me at about 7 and informed me that this was decidedly not Just One More Thing; this was THE Thing.
10. However, nothing much was really happening and I didn't feel that bad.
11. Once Beast got there, we started patrolling the halls. Those stomach cramps were getting a little bit more intense.
12. ...and then they stopped getting intense. So about noon, we rolled in the big guns....
13. ...and that's about the time when things got ridiculously painful.

Ten hours after that, Sparky was born. While there's NO WAY I'd want to do those ten hours EVER again, the payoff has turned out pretty well: