Hi everyone. We are home. I have so much to share with you from the last few days and I thought I’d start with the day I went into labor.

As I mentioned last week, I was schedule for an induction on Friday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. I knew that Thursday was my last day of pre-baby life so it was a really weird day for me.

I got eight hours of sleep on Wednesday night, which ended up being a blessing because I wouldn’t sleep again for a very long time. I got up and made a smoothie bowl and drank some coffee. I did a check-in on the internet but couldn’t really focus on anything so decided to go for a walk.

I walked the girls 3.5 miles and then stopped at home to drop them off and go to the bathroom. Walking felt so good and was such a nice mental distraction. I made a few calls, listened to some podcasts and just enjoyed being outside. I ended up walking another 3 miles.

During my walk I noticed that I was having really frequent contractions but they still felt like the Braxton-Hicks variety because there was no pain associated with them. They were coming every 3-5 minutes.

After my walk I made a salad with quinoa, lentils,, avocado, hummus, radishes, arugula, cilantro, tomatoes and feta. Next I ran to the grocery store to stock up on a few things and to get some baking supplies.

When I got home I baked chocolate chip cookies and a batch of homemade granola. My mom was due to come in that afternoon so I was trying to pass the time until her arrival and I knew she’d appreciate some sweet treats.

I showered, dressed and took a bump shot. I knew my days with him on the inside were numbered and this thing was BIG! 🙂

My mom got in around 4:30 and we sat on the couch talking and having a cup of coffee. While we were sitting there I commented to her that “something was going on.” I was still having contractions but again, nothing felt painful. I told her I’d like to go out to dinner that night as a “final outing” before baby.

It was nice to do my hair and makeup and dress up the bump one last time.

We went to Rooster’s and sat outside. It was such a pretty evening. I had the seared duck breast and a roasted cauliflower side dish that was really delicious.

We shared two different desserts, Rooster’s famous coconut cake and the most amazing brown sugar pound cake with praline pecan ice cream.

While we were at dinner I was still having painless contractions (boy…sure wish they would have stayed that way!) and on the drive home, I noticed that the back of my skirt was the tiniest bit wet. TMI…pregnancy comes with a lot of discharge…but I’d never had it go through to my clothes. I thought, “hmmm” as I was walking back into the house. This was at about 9:15 p.m.

Tanner and my mom watched a show for an hour but I was distracted and couldn’t really focus on it. I edited the pre-dinner photo you see above and posted it to Instagram with the caption, “Dinner with my mom tonight @roosterssouthpark. Tomorrow night I will be in the hospital starting my induction. He will be here by Saturday. I am so, so, so grateful that my mom flew in today to be with me for birth. What an incredible experience its been to grow this child inside of me. I can’t wait for the next step of our journey together.” 

I posted that at 9:43 p.m. We all went up to bed around 10:15 p.m. I took my makeup off, put on my pajamas and walked into the guest room in tears. I gave my mom a hug and told her I was scared. She reassured me everything was going to be okay and said all those great mom things.

I got in bed to read and about 5 pages in I felt a “POP” inside of me. I bolted out of bed and onto the toilet where my water broke!

Next up starts Finn’s birth story!