It was six years ago, I was teaching second grade and decided to take a day off of school. I told my students, "I'm just taking a day off, I'm not having the baby. Mrs. Franco just wants to rest for a day. I'll be back the next day." I remember eating Taco Bell for lunch with Danny, my mom, and uncle Dale then driving to my doctors appointment for a normal check up. Normally Danny went with me to all my appointments (it was our first kid, by the fourth kid I think he only came for the ultrasound) but he had to go back to work so I went alone. After the routine blood pressure check and pee in a cup test the doctor came in to talk with me. He told me that I had preeclampsia and the only way to get rid of it was to give birth. I said, "Ok,when?" He said, "Today." My poor doctor wasn't prepared for my response. I began to cry and plead with him, telling him that I was not ready, my Lamaze classes were going to be coming up the next weekend, I would go home and put my feet up and do nothing. He explained, ever so calmly, that I'm not going to give birth right now and that it probably wouldn't be till the next morning. He left the room so I could make some calls. Of course neither Danny nor my mom were answering their phones. I left messages and must of been crying uncontrollably because when they listened to the messages my mom thought I had gotten in to a car accident and Danny thought that something bad had happened to the baby. When they finally called back and got the whole story they were so excited. Me? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to meet our baby girl but I was scared to death to deliver her and just didn't feel ready.
I had to drive straight to the hospital. They had a hard time finding me a room. I told the nurses, "That's ok, I just come back tomorrow."
I couldn't even go home to pack my things. I called Steph because I didn't even know what I needed from home. Just three months earlier she unexpectedly gave birth to baby Kayley and knew what I was going through. I was so thankful for her. She also came to the hospital while I was in the beginning stages of induction. She says, "Ok, are you ready to learn how to breath?" So my first and only coaching on breathing during labor was taught by Steph. I remember thinking how silly it was. But when it came down to hard labor, it help tremendously.
I was going to post this tomorrow but remembered that all this happened on April 27. We didn't have a name yes and the last name we had been throwing around was Jillian. I remember being in the middle of strong labor and Danny leans down and tells me, "Jen, I don't want her name to be Jillian." I said, "I don't care about that right now, we can talk about it after she's born!" Jillian is a very pretty name and her initials would of been the same as mine but Brianna is definitely a Brianna and not a Jillian.
Needless to say, I didn't go back to work and felt bad for telling the kids I would be back and that I wasn't having the baby. It all worked out beautifully though.
