Pickles
My friend Kirsten and I have been doing some canning this year. We were aware that we were under the gun with my due date looming, so we did small batches, nothing too complicated. On Sunday August 10 I bought some cucumbers at the farmer’s market. We made plans to can sweet pickles on the next Wednesday, August 13.
The night before the canning I did the prep work – slicing pickles and onions and putting them in brine the fridge. I had a feeling, as I worked, that something was up. I was fantasizing about preserving food, and scrubbing toilets, and organizing my house. I mean, I was really thinking about how great it would be to do all this housework, and how I should really get it done now. I just had a sense that this baby was on the way shortly, but I discounted it as wishful thinking.
The next morning I picked up Kirsten and we made the pickles. I was having contractions, although I didn’t really recognize them as such. Mostly I was just really gung ho to get those pickles done, and we got 12 pints canned in about an hour and a half. By this time it was noon, and my denial was wearing off as I couldn’t sit still through the ‘cramps’. It really hit me though as I was driving Kirsten and her daughter home and a contraction hit full force. I suddenly thought, “I need my husband,” and, “I shouldn’t be driving.”
I dropped my friends off and called Jon on his cell phone from their driveway, saying he should come home. This was at 12:20, and I still wasn’t completely sure that this was the real thing. Jon asked me what the midwives said, and I told him I hadn’t called them, I just needed him with me. So, he told me he would come right home, and I headed there myself. I packed Hannah’s overnight bag, got my own things together, and waited. I also took a photo of ‘Jacob’s pickles’ for posterity.
Jon came roaring in the door at around 1:00, left his shoes on, and said, “OK, let’s go!” I said that we needed to call the midwives first. I was still putting it off, not wanting to pester them unnecessarily. Jon observed that I was having contractions every 3 minutes, and that I wasn’t talking through them so much. He paged the midwife and loaded up the car, while I waited for her to arrive. Jon also arranged for my mom and Wayne to pick up Hannah from daycare and take her for the evening.
The midwife arrived at around 1:40, took one look at me and asked if I wanted to be checked, or I just wanted to go to the hospital. I asked her to check me, afraid that I would get there and be sent home. She told me that I was 3cm and that we should go to the hospital now, but it wasn’t a terrible rush. So, off we headed to Maple Ridge to have a baby.
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