Photo of the Day: Where I Stood

This filing cabinet and I have quite a history.

I bear bruises from it. I bear scars from it. Part of me (mostly my right hip) kind of hates it. But I also bear a very powerful memory of clinging to it while experiencing my first "real" labor pains.

I woke up in the middle of the night a few weeks before my due date with my first child. (This was not at all unusual at this point in my pregnancy.) I realized that I had to pee. (This was also not at all unusual at this point in my pregnancy.) But as I made my way to the bathroom in the dark, I realized that what was going on with my body was, in fact, unusual. My water had broken and I was beginning to feel the first pangs of labor.

I wasn't in any pain at this point, and the pangs were definitely spread quite far apart, so I got back in bed and gathered my thoughts for a few hours until I decided I'd better wake my husband. He called the doctor's office and the nurse told me to feel free to labor at home as long as I could, but to come in when I felt ready or when the pains reached a certain frequency and duration.

I was up and dressed, so I puttered around in the office for a while, waiting for things to progress. I was headed out of the office to grab something to drink when the first real labor pain hit me. I reached out blindly, bending over and clinging to this filing cabinet, while quietly grunting, "Dang!" much to the amusement of my husband. (He was even more amused when I repeated the procedure using a stop sign right outside the hospital, as we both wondered aloud how many times that stop sign had been used for that purpose.)

So although this cabinet and I have not always had an amicable relationship, it still holds a special place in my heart, because it's Where I Stood.