SHORT STORY
Its a girl, believe it or not, she weighed 6lbs 9 oz, and she was born on June 11th. I was in labor for about 2 1/2 hours. I stayed in the hospital for the prequisite 2 days, came home, and have been busier than a hive of bees since. (Of course).
LONG STORY
I'll start, but its gonna be in pieces, probably over a couple days, when I get a word in edgewise with these kids....
Basically, how it went down was....
Musalih wanted to go to his brothers highschool graduation, but was scared I'd have the baby while he was gone. The graduation was on the 9th. I figured the chances were very slim that I'd have the baby at ANY time that weekend, as I was in NO pain whatsoever. Even when he left, I was still poking my belly to see if I was gonna get any reaction at all....nothing but someone sticking a foot in my bladder in retaliation for the poke.
I used the time my husband was gone to do some cleaning up and to finally finish up some things I had been putting off for months - since I only had to cook for the little ones, who are thoroughly satisfied with leftovers, and I finished all the laundry, I had a lot more time on my hands.
Saturday night Musalih calls me - he is having a WONDERFUL time, he wanted to stay and watch the Tarver-Hopkins fight. Im like, 'Honey, stay as LONG as you like, aint NOTHING happening here!! Come back on monday for all I care!!' Little did I know.
I put the kids to bed, fell asleep myself, woke up around 11pm. Turns out Sherifah called me, I missed her call. I call her back and she is all mad at me becuase I missed her call, she figures Im on the floor in the house somewhere having the baby. Im like, lol, no dear, Im just fine, but dont worry, if something goes down, you will be the FIRST TO KNOW!!!!!!! lol Shes tells me that I BETTER call her, she is right around the corner at our friend Aneesah's house. (Aneesah's moms birthday was the 11th, and they were having an informal party. I had been tempted to go earlier in the day, but the though of my pregnant self having to run after those two boys, even with other people helping, ...egh, I wasnt feeling it.)
I started to watch the news, but I think I must have dozed off again. I do remember wondering why in the world I was so TIRED, its not like I had done anything strenuous that day....anyway, 12:30, I find myself reasonably awake, figured I'd look for something on TV, but as anyone can tell you, there is nothing ON TV Saturday night at 12:30am.
I start getting these pains - I swore they were gas pains at first, since I had been picking on EVERYthing you can think of all day, and hadn't really eating a decent meal. The pains were quick, not lasting more than about 30 seconds and then they went away. But, after about 20 minutes of this, it dawned on me that maybe I should count the minutes in between to see if they were evenly spaced. They sure didnt FEEL like contractions...but ....
So I start counting, at 12:43. Sure enough, at 12:48, I get another pain, and then again at 1:01. So I figure it might be a good idea to call someone, Im alone in the house, and if anything goes down it would be good for SOMEone to know about it, lol.
I call the midwife, and tell her whats going on. She sits on the phone with me for about 15 minutes, and is like, 'well, if those are contractions, they are really short, but since you are past your due date, etc, we might as well get you to the hospital, you can always go home if its a false alarm....'
I agree, and start to put the wheels in motion. First I call musalih in philly and tell him...'yea, just so you know, Im having these funny pains, that dont feel like contractions, but the midwife said to head to the hospital anyway, I'll let you know whats up in a while, inshallah'. Im pretty sure I woke him up. Turns out he hadn't slept since friday, and was like, 'Baby, if I get on the road now, I WILL crash.' I reassured him that it was all good, and that I'd call him in a bit...I was still figuring I'd be back home by 6am that morning.
Then I call Sherifa, and Im like, 'Why you have to go and SAY something, this is all your fault....' She replies, 'Me and Aneesah, we are on our way over.'
So Im getting dressed, and trying to get my bag toghether (of COURSE I procrastinated till the end with the bag, it was only half done) and I get to the point where I gotta wait till the contraction - YES, CONTRACTION - is done before I can move about again. So Im beginning to think that MAYBE this WONT be a dry run. HA!
Sherifa's sister Alexis actually makes to the house first. When she comes in, I can still talk through the pain, but by the time Sherifa and Aneesah get there, about 10 minutes later, ....it AINT happenin.
Sherifah takes one look at me and knows Im in real labor....around that time I finally start realizing that Yes, this IS labor after all. I call my mom to come and stay with the kids, and she replies that she is on her way down, she'll be there in a half hour. Im about to tell her that we'll wait for her before going to hospital, but something - tells me that I should just go on ahead, no point in waiting.
The pains are like cramps, they come and go, but there is no doubt that they are getting more intense. Aneesah, Alexis and Sherifa (with baby Idrees in tow) are all helping me gather up my things and make it to the car, but Im being slowed down by the contractions, becuase I ahve to wait for them to stop before moving around. I quickly get to the point where I need help getting to the car... becuase the contractions are so close toghether!
I was hoping once I got in the car, I could relax a bit, take a breather, so to speak. In a way it WAS better, since I wasnt moving around, but the pain wasnt going away, just getting more and more intense.
I live in NE DC, by RFK Stadium. the hospital is about 20 minutes away. Halfway there my water broke, ....and there went all my hopes of a dry run.
We get to the hospital, and they wheel me up...the pain is bad enough that before I even GET on the bed, Im asking for an epidural. Hell, my husband is NOT there, and Im certainly NOT planning to go through seven hours of THAT kind of pain. NO WAY, natural childbirth be damned. The midwife is like, 'ok dear, lets see whats going on down there first, then we'll let you know what we can do.' In the 2 seconds of relief between the contractions (yes, I was down to what, like....20 seconds? of relief in between contractions? NEVER AGAIN I tell you) I tell her I feel like pushing. To my surprise she checks me out and says, yes, feel free to go ahead and push. Im like....really?!...and she says,...yes....
So you dont have to tell ME twice, I know pushing means the baby will be OUT!!! VERY SOON!!! So I start pushing and then go into Lala land from the pain....those of you who have had babies know all about lala land...thats when you squeeze your husband's hand so hard that he swears he will NEVER hold your hand again....yea, THAT pain.
HOWEVER.....about 5 pushes, and she is OUT!!!
I have never been so happy in my life.
I got to the hospital at 2:45, she was born at 3:05.
Samina Sharon Carter. Shout outs to grandma, auntie, and grandauntie inherent in the name. 
After that, they did what they do, then left me alone....I looked at the clock.....at 4:25am.
I know I do a lot of complaining on here (after all, what are blogs for?) but I have absolutely NOTHING to complain about with Samina's birth.
NOTHING. It doesnt get any better than that.
Only thing is now I have nothing to hold over Musalih's head. Im trying to take the 'oh but how it HURT' road, to use for future guilt-tripping, but....2 hours is 2 hours, I can only stretch it so far, lolol.
In reality, Im glad it was short all the way around, so he didnt feel like he missed out or let me down, and I feel like I didnt inconvenience my friends too much (they refused to just drop me off at the hospital, they were planning to stay till the baby was born. Awesome friends, eh?)
So now I have three kids in diapers. Alhamdulillah! lol
Oh and our car broke, so until we get a new one, we are ALL grounded. My house arrest/imprisionment has now started.
Its all good...I'll be busy taking care of my family of .....FIVE!!!! HA!!!
