I woke up on Halloween (Saturday, October 31st, 2015) ready to booze the night away. As my husband and I laid in bed discussing the timeline of events that upcoming night, I thought, hey; why not take a pregnancy test? And yes, I have NO idea what made we do it at that very moment, but I did. Geez, we had only started trying a couple weeks ago…there was no way. YES WAY! As I nonchalantly picked up the stick and stared at the + sign, I thought, hmm…. could it be? I paced the hallway for a second or two trying to figure out how to approach my husband still in bed. Finally, I said, “Come look at this.” He responded, “What?” “Just come look!” I said. Mind you, he knew I had gotten up to take the test. You’d think he would have jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom like any other normal human being. But no, he trudged his way down the hall (slower than ever). That’s Garin. He got to the door and rubbed his eyes. “Look,” I said. As he stared down at the stick, he responded, “what?” Again, that’s Garin.
Fast-forward 9 months to Tuesday, July 5th, 2016. I woke up at 5AM (as I always did) to make my 5:30 CrossFit class. By then, I was 4 days past my due date. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, other than I had eaten a crap-ton of junk food the previous day. Definitely not Laura-like. I guess I had hoped it would fill the void of wanting to have just 1 cocktail, as everyone else enjoyed his or her 4th of July festivities. I mean, c’mon, I had done my 9-month commitment! Rant over, moving on…
About halfway through the workout, while doing air squats, my lower back started to hurt. I had done these things a million times before. I knew it couldn’t have been what was causing the pain, so I ignored it and carried on (very Laura-like). After the workout, I started stretching and mentioned to another athlete (who just so happened to be my sister, Julie) that my lower back was bothering me. She immediately blurted, “you’re totally having back labor!” Puhhlease, I thought. I’m fine. I went home and jumped in the shower. The pain really started increasing at this point. I got out and woke up my husband. “I think I’m having contractions,” I said. “Why, what’s wrong?” he answered. “My back is killing me! I don’t know what’s going on,” as I keeled over in pain. He responded, “In your back? That’s not contractions.” In case you missed it before, that’s Garin.
We called the doctor and he suggested that I come into his office to be checked out, before running to the hospital. Fine by me, I thought. I had been dreading this day my entire pregnancy. I DO NOT like surprises. I like my routine and I like to stick to it. And I like to know every little detail, exactly how it’s going to happen. Don’t throw anything my way! I always thought if there was just some way I could skip over the labor and delivery part, I would be totally cool with that. Ha-ha, naïve girl. Anyway…I was dilated to 4cm at 9am. From there we headed to the hospital, where we waited. And waited.
Griffin Anthony Harcar was born at 11:23PM. He weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and measured 21 in long. HOLY MOLY! Not the “small-ish” size baby that the doctor had initially “quoted” us. Nonetheless, he was here and he was ours. You hear it all the time, “having a baby is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before.” That, my friends, is still true, and it will never change. I was overcome with such emotion, I can’t even tell you what I said, or what I did. What I do remember, though, is the copious amount of affection that came pouring out of me for the child lying in my arms. I didn’t even notice the large poop he had taken right on my chest-that’s true love right there! You are our greatest adventure, Griffin. Here’s to the start of amazing memories with you by our side.
In loving memory of my father in law, Anthony William Harcar, for whom our beautiful son is named after.
Maternity Photography: BLH Photography
Newborn Photography: Robin Hansen Photography
Love this!! And of course my sweet godson Griffy💙