True Friends. . .

. . . are those who are willing to do whatEVER it takes to send you into labor!

My friend Melissa called me last week to remind me of the kids’ consignment sale coming up the weekend of March 5-6. According to the doctor’s office, March 6 was my “due date.”

And you know if you plan something for your due date, you will certainly go into labor, and your plans will fall through. On the flip side, if you don’t plan, you’ll be sitting at home on your due date, wishing you had planned something, so you could stop sitting at home thinking about hospitals and labor and giving birth!

Melissa and Kristy were planning to go to the consignment sale Friday night from 7-9 p.m., then go to Starbucks just to chat. They invited me to join them. Melissa was listing all the “pros”:

• Getting out to the consignment sales will be much easier now, than finding someone to watch 3 kids (or even leaving a newborn nursing baby with my husband for several hours).
• This is important especially since Mara’s needing summer clothes, and with our trip to Florida the first week of May, summer is right around the corner!
• “Girl time” is all too rare, when we all have 2-3 children in the toddler-and-under stages.
• And of course, the best reason of all: All this activity could send me into labor! Finally!

Honestly, she didn’t have to work very hard to convince me. When you’re on the verge of imbibing castor oil, the option of going to consignment sales and Starbucks with your girlfriends is just a no-brainer.

So we went. Melissa was our driver/navigator, having Google-mapped the route to the sale, with directions then leading from the consignment sale location to our hospital.

YES!

She was prepared!

Daniel told me not to hesitate to go to the hospital if I had the least indication that I might need to go.–He promised to hop in the car and come up to meet me for the birth–or drive me back home again, whichever I needed.

I loved the consignment sale! If I’m remembering correctly, I haven’t been to one since before (or maybe right after) Micah was born.

There was not enough time to see everything there at the consignment sale.

I found summer outfits for Mara, pink Hello Kitty slippers (which are going to be a huge hit! She’s been asking me for pink slippers and a robe!), 6 board books for Micah, a really nice 18-24 month Gap outfit for Micah, little containers to keep Micah’s matchbox cars and other small toys in, a set of five adorable newborn brown/pink/green Carters onesies for Little Boo. . .  It was so much fun. I actually ran out of money (I hate cash-only sales!) and had to borrow from Kristy! (Yikes, Kristy, I had the $$ for you when you came over–please remind me next time I see you!!!!!)

As I’m looking at newborn clothes, I met a lady who looked about as pregnant as me. So I asked her when she was due. She said the end of April and asked when I’m due. When I said “tomorrow,” she looked all worried, as if she expected to see the baby drop out crying the next moment, as if she was wondering about her role in the delivery, and gasped, “Are you serious?!”

Melissa bought an adorable newborn-sized “Little Sister” onesie with matching pants for Little Boo. I can’t wait to put it on her!

I unrolled another newborn-size onesie and held it out, imagining my baby was wearing it. “Look at this!!!” I exclaimed. “I can’t wait to hold her!!”

All of a sudden, it hit me: Little Boo really will be here any day now. There were months of contractions, when we didn’t know for sure. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week–or in a couple months. But now? Her due date is tomorrow. And the doctors won’t let me go even another week.

I was so excited, just thinking about it.

When the sale closed, Melissa was ready to drive me up to the hospital, but unfortunately, my contractions were there–but not strong enough to merit a trip to triage.

So we went to Starbucks.

If you can’t go into labor, at least go to Starbucks. Ha ha! It was as good a second option as I could have asked for, I suppose.

After less than half an hour, Starbucks also closed, and we had to leave. We sat in the car and talked. At nine months pregnant, I’m not too comfortable sitting in cars, and before long my contractions were two minutes apart. Some more intense than others, but still nothing warranting a hospital visit.

Finally we started home. We dropped Kristy off, and then Melissa and I sat double-parked in front of our house and chatted more.

My contractions slowed a bit, so I figured tonight wasn’t the night after all. But we had a good time together, and I knew it would be awhile before we got the chance to do that again!

Thanks, friends!!!