Birth Story part 1

Salaams to everyone out there and thank you so much for all your kind words and dua for the birth of Jilbaby.

Here is the first part of my birth story.. which pretty much starts a week prior to the day my son was born.

Here goes...

***

H came up the day after this post. He arrived by 6 pm. I was already exhausted (yeah it was a Sunday but the last week of pregnancy totally drained me) and taking a shower. He knocked on the bathroom door and poked his head in. Said salaam and chit chatted for a minute, and then he ran downstairs to pray and then started to make dinner.


"Wow," I thought, "Things really are turning around."

My last week at school was very hard. I ended up going home early a few days because I was just too tired. Sleep was becoming my frenemy - some nights were good, most were bad.

But H was totally awesome. Very attentive and helpful. Optimistic for the future because he had some promising leads for work (he's trying to do his own thing).

My 38 week check up was Thursday May 1st. My doc checked my cervix and THERE WAS NO PROGRESS FROM THE WEEK BEFORE. I was totally bummed out because I had H come up in a hurry in fear that I'd go into labor without him. Allah is the best of planners, I knew this.. and I couldn't dictate when Jilbaby would come. Still I felt guilty as we walked out of the doctor's office with no new news. It felt like this pregnancy would never end. I could tell H was anxious and maybe even agitated. He left his work and came up here thinking I'd deliver any day. He gets no paid time off and actually risks losing his job for leaving work for a long period of time.

The next day, Friday May 2nd, I was feeling fine. Neither my back nor my front were sore. I had a spring in my step but a scowl on my face. This baby will never come out, I remarked to some coworkers.

"No Jilbabble, this is the calm before the storm!" Predicted one teacher.

I hoped she was right.