Eleven years ago tonight, I was in labour. Lauren’s birth was the only one of my three that occurred without any jumpstarting. I was induced with Will because he was 10 days late, and I was induced 2 days before Emma’s due date because she was bound to be late like the others. As a side note, all of my kids were born on a Sunday, and all on or around some kind of holiday weekend. In actual fact, Lauren’s birthday technically fell on a Monday, since she was born on the stroke of midnight. But whatever. We were just glad she wasn’t born in the van. Because she almost was.
I had been to my OB on the Friday, 10 days past my due date. He gave me the good news that absolutely NOTHING was going on, and said that he’d bring me in to induce me on Monday. So I spent Saturday and Sunday doing the nesting thing, washing everything in site and making sure I had everything I was going to need. On Sunday night I even took my stroller apart to clean it, and it was about then that I realized that the cramps I’d been feeling for an hour or so were actually contractions. I told Darren that I thought maybe I was in labour, and he of course wanted to go to the hospital immediately (about 25-30 minutes away). However, I figured I had time to finish my laundry, and so I just kept hollering “THERE’S ANOTHER ONE” every time I had a contraction. I can still remember him saying to me “That couldn’t have been another one already…it’s only been about 10 minutes since the last one”, and I said “BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU THAT WAS A CONTRACTION”.
Long story short, we eventually got on our way, after first dropping Will off at my parents’ house (and picking up Kimberly). I remember sitting at a red light across from the hospital and noticing that I was shaking. I said to Darren and Kimberly “hmm…I think I may be further along than I thought”. Uh, yeah. I got wheeled around to Labour and Delivery while Darren did the registration thing in the ER, and when the nurse examined me, she said “oooh, you’re 8.5 cm. Won’t be long now!”. I said (foolishly) “I’ll still have time for my epidural, RIGHT?”. Ha. My water broke about 20 seconds later and everything went into overdrive. Poor Kimberly had the door slammed in her face and my father-in-law had to run and grab Darren from the ER so that he wouldn’t miss it. And the whole time, I was lying on the bed saying “uh…I don’t think I can do it without the drugs. How about some Demerol, even?”. They pretty much ignored me.
Fortunately, Lauren popped out after a push or two, and all was well. It’s so funny to us that Lauren didn’t wait to be induced, but came all on her own. That is so totally her personality. She has always been a go-getter type. She wanted to do things all by herself and was tying her shoes before her 4th birthday. When she was tiny, she had definite ideas about the clothes she wanted to wear and would put together some fairly mind-boggling ensembles. She’s never been particularly shy, and I have some hilarious video of her sitting on the stage at Will’s nursery school graduation. He didn’t want to sit up there, and so she seized the opportunity when I was looking the other way.
Lauren is like my right hand. If I need something done, she’s the person to ask. Quite often I’ll be scrambling to finish some work in the morning, and Lauren will get up and get herself ready for school, and then she runs around and pours cereal for the others and helps Emma get her snack ready, brings agendas to be signed, etc, etc. She’s sweet and affectionate and nurturing and hilarious. She loves to play Rock Band with Will, and still plays babies and barbies with Emma. She has her huffy, snit fit moments, and we have had to outlaw any trading of personal belongings between her and Emma, since it inevitably leads to a knock-down-drag-out when somebody won’t trade back. But she really is a fantastic kid.
I love the promises God makes in Isaiah 43, and my prayer for Lauren is that she will always know that she is the Lord’s:
But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:1-2
