100 Words Per Mile: The Beginning of After

My daughter is finally born. My wife gives her body away.

October 26, 2021
3.00 miles
22:24

I was right. Last week was the final run before my baby girl was born. Earlier this week, our daughter joined us in the world and a few days ago, we brought her home for the first time.

On Wednesday, around 5:00 pm, my wife’s water broke. We weren’t entirely sure. She’s been peeing a little here and there when she sneezed, but we’d just finished watching a show and when she stepped out of our bed, she found a wet spot. She stood up, removed her underwear, and I saw the thinnest sort of trinkle, as if a faucet hadn’t been turned off. What else could it have been?

Fortunately, we had our bags packed ahead of time, so I threw everything into the car and we mapped out the quickest way to stop at a Wendy’s before we headed to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, there was about an hour between our arrival and confirmation that my wife’s water had broken. In that time, my wife’s contractions went from about ten minutes apart to three minutes apart. We sent my in-laws a message and soon we were checked into our room.

This was about 7:30 pm.

Despite the escalation in contractions and effacement, my wife’s dilation moved slowly and was only about three centimeters when we got to the hospital. Four hours later, my wife asked for the epidural, but because she was experiencing back labor, it wasn’t as helpful as it could be.

I am not the best scene partner for an epidural. My wife never saw the size of the needle, but I guess my eyes gave it away.