Birth Story: Drama Queen

Such a beautiful baby!

I've told you before that I found out I was pregnant with the Drama Queen just a few days before Christmas in 1988. You really should read that story before this one if you haven't read it before.

We were living in Provo and I was commuting to work every day in Tooele. It was a LONG drive! I left our apartment about 5:30 AM and drove about 25 minutes to catch the carpool van. I didn't get home until after 6:00 each evening. That left me very little time to spend with my sweetie and my two little ones. I hated the hours and I hated the job. I'll give you a little more insight later in the week on that, but for now, just know that I was anxious to find a new job. My sweetie was also commuting to Salt Lake, so we were both driving way too much and spending precious little time together.

I was finally offered a new job when I was about 5 months pregnant. I felt so guilty after the offer was made that I called them and told them about the baby. I didn't want them to think I was just going to quit months after I started. Thankfully, they were still interested and I started work two weeks later. I stayed with this company for 10 years, but that's another story too.

I have not typically had tons of cravings with my babies, but this little one loved Magelby's Carrot Cake muffins! I had to have at least one a week. The baby was due the end of July and the summer was long and hot! I was having trouble finding daycare for Bossy and the Gym Rat and my new job was insane from day one. We moved into the Salt Lake Valley and tried to get our bearings. We had lived in the area before, but only on the University campus. That was much different from the suburbs.

Bossy and baby Drama Queen

Thankfully, I wasn't very sick with this baby. My first two had both come early, so naturally I assumed the same thing would happen with this one. We made several (my sweetie would say a dozen!) trips downtown to the hospital with false labor because I really wanted to be done. We would drop Bossy and Gym Rat off at the Montessori school I finally found for them and then rather than show up at work, we would leisurely make our way to the avenues. About the time we pulled up in front of the hospital, the pains had generally evened out and we never got out of the car.

Finally, when we were 10 days past our due date, the doctor decided he was tired of hearing me complain and he would induce labor. Since we had no one in the valley to help with the kids, we dropped them at the Montessori. I had learned my lesson about food after my first one, so we headed to MacDonald's for a quick breakfast. I was nervous and excited all at once. People had told us over and over that the third child was the hardest.

After breakfast, we drove the 20 minutes to the hospital. We checked in and settled in to wait. The Drama Queen was never in much of a hurry to do anything then and she managed to hold off until about 9:00 that night. At ten days late we were expecting her to be huge, but she just had an over-sized water bed (no wonder she didn't want to come out) and she tipped the scales at 8 lbs 3 1/2 oz.

All was well and uneventful. We even went home the following day since there were incentives for a 24-hour stay. She never had jaundice or medical problems. In fact, despite what everyone said, other than the late thing, I think the third child was the easiest...at least when she was born. Now after that, it might be another story...