Preston is 1!

Preston’s Birth Story

Last year, I sat with my students at the school’s Holiday Assembly. Suddenly, as the student body cheered, they rattled the bleachers with the kicking and stomping of their feet. I caught the eyes of my teaching partner and some colleagues and gave a raised-eyebrow stare, as I started to wonder if it was the rattling bleachers or contractions that I was starting to feel.

As the assembly ended, my teaching partner suggested that I head to my classroom a few minutes early, so I didn’t have to worry about the crowd of students trampling me as they were leaving for Christmas Break. My walking was a bit slow, so by the time I waddled to my classroom, the rest of the student body was filling the hallways, heading home, and shouting, “Merry Christmas,” as they prepared for the holiday break.

My family was waiting outside to drive me to my weekly doctor’s appointment. It was only the second time I had anyone drive me there, but I had this feeling I was not going to make it to my due date (December 28th). As I grabbed my school bag and Christmas gifts from students, I closed my classroom door and thought, These may be contractions. I’m having this baby today. Our principal was in the hallway, and he wished me a great break and told me to update him with baby news, but I laughed and said, “I’m on my way to an appointment, but I think I’m having the baby today.” We both laughed, but I was somewhat serious.

As I jumped into our family vehicle, I announced, “I’m having the baby.” They laughed, as we pulled away from the school, but then, contractions started hitting me back-to-back, and they knew I wasn’t joking.

The drive felt extremely long. It was 45 minutes of driving there with fast and hard contractions – and me telling everyone to stop talking. For some reason, I still walked into my doctor’s office for my appointment and waited in the lobby – only to go into the appointment and have her tell me to head to the hospital because I was in labor – which I knew.

My husband had to get our kids back to their grandparent’s house, so he dropped me off at the ER doors where they checked me in to make sure I was really in labor. (😳) Clearly, as I was yelling in pain, it wasn’t quite official. 🤷🏼‍♀️ And there I was, in the ER, until they finally wheeled me upstairs to go into surgery for my third c-section. My husband made it back just in time to get scrubbed in. As luck would have it, I met everyone that was going to deliver Preston, and then, their shift ended at 7 P.M. and a whole new team scrubbed in. Labor had been super intense, and I told them if they waited any longer, they may as well skip the c-section, because at this point, I had been in labor for 4.5 hours. They convinced me we were really moving forward, and I became super chatty and nervous as they delivered sweet Preston.

I don’t do well with anesthesia, so the rest is a bit blurry, but I knew all was well with him as they weighed him in at a 7 pounds 10 ounces, and he let out an immediate cry.

It was an interesting birth story. People at school kept telling me to hold out until Christmas break … and I literally did … down to the last minute – even though Preston arrived 9 days early.

Here we are a year later, celebrating with cake and Paw Patrol! We all love our sweet guy! What a great, happy baby – who eats like a linebacker. ❤️

Keep in mind that I may receive commissions when you click my links and make purchases; however, this does not impact my reviews and comparisons. I share links as an Amazon Associate, but these are real purchases. The small commissions received help to pay for this website.