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Back in April when we estimated our baby's due date (about 2 minutes after the test came up positive) I was disappointed when I realized he would be born in December. I'd heard multiple people complain about the hassle of having birthdays close to Christmas. But as we drove into downtown Boise in the early morning and saw all the tall building decorated- sparkly lights on their edges, cone shaped Christmas trees on the very tip tops- I was glad. What a magical time of year to have a birthday!

We pulled into the hospital parking lot and walked toward the door. I was embarrassed that my pants were wet and grateful that the early hour meant less people around to see me. Just inside the main revolving door we were greeted by a 15 foot Christmas tree decorated in blue and silver and surrounded by poinsettias. It was beautiful and Audrey was completely wowed. I wish now that I had taken a picture of it. We took the elevator to triage and checked in. The lady who took my paperwork called back to get a room ready for me. I don't know what the person on the other end of the phone asked but she glanced down at my pants, laughed and said, "oh yeah, she's definitely ruptured."

We were taken back to a very tiny curtained room where I was changed into a gown and hooked up to monitors. Contractions were happening every 1-3 minutes but they were so minor that I wasn't feeling them. I was told to go walk around the hospital for 30 minutes. Justin helped Audrey change out of her pajamas and we walked first to the cafeteria- a banana for me, yogurt for Audrey, chocolate milk for everyone, then to the Christmas tree- Audrey and Justin went out to the car for our bag while I stood in the lobby and called my parents. And then back to triage- they wanted to monitor the baby's movements before they sent me to Labor and Delivery, but he was asleep. The nurse tried a few techniques to wake him up and then finally "buzzed" him with a small device she placed on my stomach that let out a loud noise and a vibration. We watched my belly jump to one side and then he was active and we moved to the Labor and Delivery room.