"But it can't be labor, I'm only 27 weeks along..."

Looking back, it's one of the stupidest rationalizing statements I've ever made. When in full swing labor with white-hot contractions, you'd think one would have more clarity.

I was wheeled into Rex Hospital's triage at 1:05 am and had Aidan George at 1:12 am on September 24th. (He was due December 20th.) They checked me into the hospital after he was already out. He weighed 3 lbs 1/2 oz - which I am told is hefty for a baby 3 months premature. (My yardstick for 'hefty' is skewed; Aidan's big brother Nathaniel is age 2 and wears 5T. He weighs 42 pounds.)

Not 48 hours earlier, I'd been driving the six hour drive home from my parents' house. If one is going to give birth to a preemie at 27 weeks gestation, I don't imagine alone (other than with said toddler) on the side of I-95 in Dillon, SC is where one would like to be. *shudder* Also narrowly missed was joining my mother in what would have then been a family tradition of having second-born children in the car on the way to the hospital. (To their credit, she and Dad did not also actually have the first born with them in the car at the time.)

When I asked nurse Carla how I went from 6 centimeters @ 1:05 to having him seven minutes later, she smiled sheepishly. "I lied." She explained she could not force herself to say anything over 6 cm without screaming. "She was amazing," Carla said to the other nurses, pointing to me. [In triage] "her little boy was sitting two feet from her. I could read every word she mouthed, but not one bad word actually came out."

Apparently during this time around 1 am, my dear husband was on the phone with my dear friend, Nancy. The plan had been that when I went into labor (you know, in December) she would watch Nathaniel until my parents got into town. She quotes this frantic call from Corey as, "Nancy. I need you. We are at the hospital, and . . . oh! Gotta go!" (*click*)

The nurse had just told Corey that baby boy was already here. No twenty-one hours of labor needed this time around. As for Nancy, she said she told the lord she'd just pray from her couch until she got a call back...