Due Date Dinner

A lot of people record their birth stories on their blogs.  I always swore I wouldn't be one of those people.  And, I'm going to keep that promise.  But, I did want to write about the day leading up to Austin's birth because it's one I don't ever want to forget...

Baby Austin was due on October 9th, and when I woke up on the morning of the 9th feeling totally normal, I just knew I was going to have a late baby.  So, I did a little cleaning around the house in the morning to distract myself, met Brad at his office for lunch, talked to my mom on the phone for a good hour, and then headed home to get ready for dinner with Brad.  We had decided earlier in the morning {on the advice of a friend} to have one last nice, long dinner out together before the baby arrived, and it was no longer just us.

At 7pm, we had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant in our neighborhood called Angelini Osteria, and stuffed ourselves full of delicious food.  I had a caprese salad, duck ragu tagliatelle, and a chocolate tart for dessert.  Brad had the beef tartare, the duck ragu tagliatelle, and profiteroles.  Everything was absolutely delicious.

After dinner we headed home, and I watched NCIS: Los Angeles on the couch while Brad did some work in the bedroom.  After the show, I got up to use the bathroom and felt a gush of warm water.  Sure enough, my water had broken.  I was shocked.  In our birthing class, our teacher had repeatedly told us that very few women's waters actually break before going into labor.  My pregnancy had been blessedly normal, so I figured like most women, my labor would begin with contractions.  Wrong.

After my water broke, the contractions started coming really close together and were getting stronger quickly.  So, instead of laboring at home, like we had planned, we quickly collected our bags, dropped the dog off at day care, and headed to the hospital.

Sure enough I was in labor.  And...skipping ahead to 16 hours later {phew}, we were blessed with the most beautiful baby boy, Austin Robert, born only one day after his due date.

So our secret to initiating labor?  Not spicy food, not food rubs....go on a due date dinner!