The First Due Comes and Goes

5 years ago today was a Thursday, I was a tank. I was retaining so much water that you could push your finger into my ankle and leave a half inch dent. I was on bed rest. I ate every two hours, literally. My face was so swollen you could hardly tell I had eyebrows. You will never see a picture of me like this. Ever. Today was my due date with Hayden.

We didn't know what we were having, only that it was a baby. I was very excited about becoming a mom, but extremely scared about, you know, how baby was going to come out. I'm okay with pain, I am not okay with needles and hospitals and IV's. The first time they took blood during my prenatal care, I came to on the floor with my head on a pillow, a juicebox next to my head and my legs at a 90 degree angle with my feet propped in a nurses thighs.

I went through the entire pregnancy thinking this baby would be early. Baby would just come early September. I ended up with mild preeclampsia with 6 weeks to go. I had just finished working and wanted to finish getting ready because baby would be here in a month. Scratch that, bed rest time. I checked my blood pressure three times a day, kept a record of each reading and waited. As long as baby would come after the first of the month and not before, I would be happy.

(This is me, but not with Hayden. Picture bigger belly, swollen hands, arms, fingers.)

My mom came down the Saturday before my due date, because baby was going to come early. Buddy picked her up from the airport. When she saw me, her eyes got big and then turned to horror at how huge and uncomfortable I looked. Seriously, it wasn't pretty.

Then, this day came and went. As did the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th. Here is my opinion on due dates: Doctors need not give a due "date", they should give an estimated time of arrival. You know, like "You'll be 40 weeks here, so expect baby to come within this span of days/weeks." That whole due date thing just doesn't work with me.