Sweet 16!

It's hard to believe my baby is 16 today! Wow. Where did the time go?

As far as deliveries went, she was pretty easy. Third times the charm and all that. I went to bed the night of the 11th and woke up around midnight. I poked Mike Geraci in the shoulder and told him it was time to go the hospital. We'd already taken our other 2 kids to the neighbors for the night b/c I'd had some bloody show earlier in the evening, coupled with the fact that I was a week past my due date, and I was pretty certain that I'd go into labor that night (being a labor and delivery nurse does have it's advantages).

Let me just tell you Mike Geraci doesn't wake up well. He looked at me and said, "I don't think you're in labor." Then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

So I got up and took a shower. Put on a little makeup. After all, I was going to be delivering in front of my co-workers.

This time, I stood over the bed and gave him my "I mean business" eyes. He sighed and got up and went to brush his teeth. "I'll be out in a second," he said.

I went out to garage and got in the car. It was cold. We were living in Austin at the time and it was a chilly February morning.

I waited.

And waited.

Where the hell was he? What part of "I'm in labor" did the man not understand?

So I unbuckled my seat belt (not an easy feat at 9 months + 1 week pregnant) and rolled myself back in the kitchen. Mike Geraci was standing by the refrigerator, stuffing a piece of frozen chocolate pie in his face. WTH?

"I'm hungry," he mumbled, stuffing the rest of the pie into his hole, watching my expression leerily. Yeah. He knew he was in trouble.

I rebuckled myself into our Explorer, and we drove the 5 minutes to Seton NW Hospital. Back then you had to do a U turn to get to the hospital coming from our direction (probably that's different now). I remember as he did that U turn he gave me a long sideways look. "You don't look like you're in labor."

"How do you want me to look?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Like you're in pain."

"You'll be the one in pain if you don't step on it."

His brows shoot up.

Yeah. He knew I meant business now.

We get to the hospital. Mike Geraci immediately tells my nurse, Jacqueline, that he doesn't feel well. His stomach hurts. Poor baby. He must have eaten something that disagreed with him. Yeah, that chocolate pie. No one pays any attention to me. After all, I work there. I know what to do. So I put on a gown and get in bed. Jacqueline runs to get Mike Geraci some antacid. My doctor checks me. I'm 8 cm dilated.

Now Mike Geraci really looks sick. "I thought it was false labor. You didn't act like this when you were 8cm before."

My doctor breaks my bag of water and an hour later I have a baby. It's 4:29 in the morning.

By 5:30, Mike Geraci is sleeping on the fold out couch. An hour later, he wakes up, looking disoriented. "Where are we?" he mumbles.

"At the hospital."

"You mean... that wasn't a dream?"

Ha. That's his story and 16 years later, he's still sticking to it.

PS- My Valentines Day contest is open till Friday midnight. Go by the Knight Agency blog and scroll down to my "Got Bunco?" post and leave a comment to be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Victoria's Secret.