GREY MATTER LIFE

What was supposed to be a lazy family Friday night, chowing down on our favorite local pizza on the couch and getting ready to watch baseball together, turned into something entirely different.

From the moment the CNN cameraman and producer walked out my door on Thursday, my body started screaming at me. To say that I was exhausted from race weekend and getting ready for the CNN interview, would be an understatement. I had all kinds of plans to do nothing and acquaint myself with my lost inner lazy and spend the next 10 days doing just about nothing.

I thought I was off to a good start on Friday in my mission to find my lost lazy, as I ran a few errands and hung out with my friend Karen in her kitchen for the better part of the day. Clearly my body had other plans.

By 9:30pm, I assumed all the Braxton Hicks contractions I’d been having were from simply doing too much. While I’d thought to start timing them and calculated them about 10-12 min apart for over an hour, I had no pain, assumed my body was teaching me a lesson on the importance of relaxing and that I’d get a much deserved lecture from my OB.

What started as a visit to the hospital for monitoring of these frequent Braxton Hicks contractions, was quickly determined to be active labor. My contractions weren’t 10-12 minutes apart, but 2-3 minutes apart. I had no clue!

As they rushed to fill me with IV fluids, start my epidural for the c-section and Paul raced through the pile of paperwork, I was overcome with emotions.

We were being propelled 100 mph toward a moment we’d been waiting for, yet simply didn’t seem real. We found ourselves nervously anticipating the moment when we would finally meet our daughter.

At 12:53 am on July 30, that moment arrived as a gentle, feminine cry emerged from OR 4 and Paul and I welcomed our 7 pound, 3 ounce blond hair and blue-eyed daughter, Harper Keenan Giliberto.

We are blessed and we are grateful. Let the adventure continue.

Harper Keenan Giliberto