ten on ten (11/10)

i did something different for this month's ten on ten photo project. a year ago today - - - 11/10/07 - - - i was in labor with riley. i spent the day reflecting on last year: what i was doing, thinking and feeling, so i took some pictures that reminded me of that amazing day a year ago. riley's birth story started on this day...but it did not end until the next day. so tomorrow i will finish the story of her birth - on her birthday! - but for now, here are my ten memories from last year, as well as a brief version of what took place.

riley was 5 days early, so much to my surprise, i was awoken with my first contraction at 5am on saturday morning, the day after my last day of work. i was suppose to have AT LEAST a week until my "due date" to rest, tie up last minute details and just enjoy some down time. ha! riley had something else in mind for me, so we spent the next few hours laying in bed, shocked and a bit giddy that this baby was coming!

we spent a good part of the morning and early afternoon taking walks around the neighborhood enjoying the beautiful fall day. i remember the day being crisp, the sky blue, sun out and the colors standing out so vibrantly. tyler picked up some spicy thai food for lunch and i tried to rest as much as possible. (the picture below the sky picture is a specific street corner i remember having a contraction on!)

by the 4 o'clock afternoon hour i transitioned into active labor, so we spent about the next six hours or so in our back bedroom working through the contractions. i was leaning into tyler, on the ball and receiving some great massage from our doula.

we left for the hospital around 10:30pm (only 1 mile away!), checked in and got settled into our room. tyler brought our laptop and set it up with music and a picture slideshow. i spent many contractions gaining strength as i watched the pictures of our friends, family and beautiful scenery flash by - a really good idea for those of you who are preparing for labor.

and finally a picture of me on that day - huge and ready to give birth!!!

and the rest of the story will come tomorrow!