Black False-Alarm Friday

I’d set the alarm for 2:45 for our Black Friday shopping and I took Alaethia’s temperature and gave her Tylenol. Mario looked over to me with eyes that were wide awake and said, “I haven’t been able to sleep all night. Maybe I should just go with you?”

I was thrilled at the idea, but I was afraid he wouldn’t have time to rest to go to work at 9. I asked him, “Are you calling in?”
He said, “No, I’ll go to work.” We got ready and Mom came over to watch Alaethia and the boys. We’d be leaving the house at 3am, so we unfortunately didn’t have enough time to set the coffee pot =\. Better for me, I guess. I already have to go pee more than enough without drinking coffee.

Mary, Sonia, Yazmin, Mario and I were the ones going. Elda was supposed to go but decided not to at the last minute since Mario was already going with us.

Our first stop would be Walmart, where we were mostly getting stuff that Annie asked us to. The ads weren’t really all that enticing to us this year so we decided we’d buy something only if it was a really great deal.

It was amazing how many cars were on the road at 3am!! I think the streets were the most populated that I’ve ever seen on a Black Friday morning.

Once at Walmart, Mary went straight to the jewelry department, where she was getting something Jorge asked her to and Yazmin and Sonia went to the toy section. Mario and I made our way to the electronics section where we were in charge of getting two MP3 players and memory cards. Since we were already in line for the memory cards, I was going to get one for myself. Can’t beat $9 for a 4gig card!

Mario and I are in line for what seems like eternity. The line spans from the electronics section back into the baby section and the food section, all the way around the boys’ section. It was ridiculous. Mario kept nudging me and hissing that it was a stupid idea to stand there forever for two MP3 players and 2 memory cards. I kept telling him, “We have to. Your Mom put us in charge of these. It’ll be fine.”

After seeing a guy try to “hand his keys” to some other guy who was much further from us just so he could get near him to kick his ass; some women threatening to “take care of” a pregnant woman who cut in line if the security guard didn’t, and finally hearing that all the people in line would probably be there all day because they were letting people in by 5’s to 10’s (and we were easily like, 75th in line), I decided that yes, maybe it was time to leave.

We told everyone we were leaving and had a hell of a time trying to find an exit where people weren’t going to pummel us for thinking we were trying to cut in line. When we finally got out we got in the car and picked up some cappuccino at Valero next door. We decided we’d drive across the street to Home Depot, since we needed to get a gift for someone there. We’re a bit worried because there’re only 2 cars in the parking lot that look like they belong to customers. I roll the window down and ask a passing employee if they’re having a Black Friday sale. He says yes, at 6. I look at the clock on the stereo: 5:05. Okay. We’ve got some waiting to do. We sip our cappuccinos and I read my book, Cocktails for Three by Madeline Wickham (AKA Sophie Kinsella), while Mario flips through the pile of Black Friday ads we brought along with us. There’s a couple in a blue truck and an older couple in a tan van. The people in the blue truck left for some reason and a whole bunch of other people started arriving after that .We got down after we saw the couple in the tan van get down and get in line. We were second. We talked and laughed with them and the guy and girl right behind us. It was such a big, calm difference from Walmart!

The line was long, but not ridiculous like it was at Walmart. Everyone was nice and civil and you could walk normally with your basket throughout the store and you found what you needed because there was plenty of everything. We found what we needed and then some.

We met Mary and everyone at Target and made our way to Kmart, where Mario and I bought a 32″ LCD TV on impulse for $399. It wasn’t even on sale or anything—we just saw that there was actually one there and bought it. When we were wheeling the cart away we were thinking, “What did we just do? Where are we even going to put this one?!” So we decided that after our next stop, another Walmart, we were going to return it.

Mario stayed in the car because we were afraid someone would break in just to steal the TV. We searched everywhere for some stuff Noelia asked us to get but had no luck. I did, however, find the 2 ft. Mickey and Minnie for $9 each that Mom wanted to get for Alaethia. I got a little rowdy myself—let me explain: one of the employees actually listened to me and checked if she had the plushes. She told me to wait where I was and she’d be back; she was certain she’d seen them “in the back”. So Yazmin and I wait and wait…for like 15 minutes. She said we should go, but I just had a feeling we should wait a little longer. We’re looking at some cute Wall-E and Eve toys when Yazmin points and yells, “Yajaira! She took your Mickey!”

I turn in all directions and squeal, “Who did? Where?” and she points me in the direction of a woman practically running towards the electronics department with her cart. I stop her and tell her, “Hey! That was mine! She was bringing it for me!”

The woman, who has a raspy voice like she’s been yelling all morning, says, “No I didn’t! She has more!” I look around and see nothing. I turn to her, eyes narrowed, and ask, “Where?” She points in the same direction and rasps, “Over there! She’s got a huge box!” I stand on my tip-toes and yes, I see the lady now and she’s quickly being surrounded by a mob of shoppers. I turn around and politely say, “Thank you,” and walk quickly in the opposite direction back towards the lady. I was a tad bit embarrassed LOL.

When I get to where she is there are arms all over the place grabbing skinny Mickey and Minnie legs left and right. I shove my arm in the box and grab one of each and take off, yelling ‘Thank you!’ to the lady. We paid and went straight to the car. Poor Mario had just called and was getting bored.

We dropped Mario off at home so he could get ready for work, left Mary’s car since it was packed and took my truck for another round of shopping. We went to a different Walmart, the one on Nolana if I remember correctly. We actually found the MP3 players Mary was looking for (they had tons) and although I didn’t find even one of the Blu Rays that were on sale, I did find a few $2, $6 and $9—I even got Peter Pan for Alaethia for $10!

We returned the TV at Kmart and went to eat at Shoney’s. My first time at Shoney’s, ever, I believe. It was alright. I was so tired I could hardly eat, though.

We dropped Sonia and Yadira off and came home. Mom somewhat watched Alaethia (and I say somewhat ’cause she kept getting into things and Mom kept yelling) while I slept. I got about 2 hours I think.

Mario got home early. The poor thing was exhausted, so for once I didn’t object while he dragged himself to sleep at 5pm. We went over to Mary’s to chill out with everyone (Mona, Jorge, Elda, Mary, Mom and the kids) and had dessert. As soon as I was done with my last fork-fulls of banana crème pie and pumpkin pie I started getting those bad pains like the day before. I tried ignoring them but they started coming on really strong. I was talking to Elda and kept flinching and cringing when I’d have them. Mary told me to time them, so I did—they were coming every 6 minutes at first, then every 2. They were like that for an hour until I finally gave in to everyone’s recommendations about going to the hospital. I reluctantly woke up Mario at 8:30 and immediately started to sob. I couldn’t believe I was possibly going into labor. And I didn’t even have a name for her yet! The boys’ room wasn’t fully transformed into the girls’ room yet! I still needed tons of stuff and couldn’t even remember what those things were! Mario told me to calm down and helped me pack our bag with our cell phones, reading material, my slippers, etc.

It felt like an eternity by the time we arrived at the hospital. I’d been so into breathing and calming my pain that forgot to eat the Ramen noodles I’d made as my dinner. I inhaled about half of it when we parked at the hospital and Mario finished the rest.

It didn’t take long from the time we arrived to sign documents and then get admitted. My teeth were chattering from the nerves, especially after they asked Mario to stay in the L&D waiting room. I was asked to change and they got my vitals. My luck would have it that the darn system was down and all they could do was write everything on a piece of napkin O_o.

I felt so lonely laying there waiting to be strapped in by the nurse. I started texting Mario asking him if he knew when they’d call him in. The nurse walked in and strapped me onto the monitors. She found it really weird that when I’d get one of those sharp pains it wouldn’t mark on the machine as a contraction, and then when I was having a contraction, I was fine. So she gave me this little silver pump to push every time I felt a pain.

She gave me a pelvic exam and although I was dilated to ½ a centimeter my cervix was still fully closed, so that was a good sign. I was hoping that at the very least this whole thing was due to a virus or something and not labor. She still had 2 ½ months left before she could come out!

I’d be staying overnight as per the doctor so I could be monitored. She called Mario in right after that and thank God too because she was about to insert the IV. I really hate IV’s. Besides the earth-shattering contractions, IV’s follow right behind as the most pain I’ve ever felt.

She told me the IV would keep me hydrated because I was a bit dehydrated and would insert some Demerol for the pain. I didn’t feel like I needed it, so I told her I’d pass for now. She kind of laughed it off and got to working on my hand. I kept telling her she had to use a baby IV, but she wouldn’t listen. She said no, they only use the largest IV’s in Labor and Delivery. Sure enough, she popped my darn vein. She was a little freaked out about it, because the blood literally squirted out. Mario was amazing; he rubbed my other hand and kept me focused so I wouldn’t pay attention to the doctor. She finally got the darn thing in after what seemed like an hour.

Now I had the pain in my hand and the horrible pain in my stomach. If it wasn’t contractions, was I getting sick like Yadira said I would after all? The weird thing was I didn’t have diarrhea or anything. I was writhing and literally couldn’t breathe while I was having the pain. The stupid nurse kept making fun of me. She even told Mario he should leave because it was going to be a long night! How dare she! He kind of just shrugged and smiled and then looked at me like, What the hell’s wrong with her?”

Mario went to get himself dinner at McDonald’s since he really hadn’t eaten all day. He got back and ate and we watched TV. He told me to lower the volume and try and sleep. The pain was unbearable and they still really weren’t showing up as contractions. Around 2am Mario insisted I should get the Demerol. I felt so awful and exhausted that I gave in. I called the nurse and she somewhat satisfyingly said ‘I told you so’.

She injected the IV tube with a syringe of Demerol and I asked her if it stung. She said, yes, a little. But when I finally felt the liquid make its way down the tube, it only felt really cold. She had another syringe with her, a medication that starts with a ‘P’ that I can’t remember the name of, but she said I needed it to keep from having the nauseating side effects that Demerol usually caused. I really didn’t want it, but the last thing I needed was to have those stomach cramps and nausea. She shoved the needle into my butt cheek and OMG, it stung so bad! She told me to get comfy so that I could get some rest.

I asked Mario, who used to work with IVs and all that stuff, when I’d start feeling the Demerol kick in. He said, “Soon. Just wait.” I was just regretting getting the darn Demerol when I started to feel really lightheaded. I turned over to Mario, in what felt like slow motion, and told him, “See, this is why I don’t do drugs…this feels so weird!” The last thing I remember seeing is a huge painting of Santa I didn’t notice when we first went in to the room. I woke up several times when I heard the nurses walk in or when I felt one of the pains (which weren’t as bad as they had been) and I did finally wake up once to go to the bathroom, but I got some rest nonetheless. Poor Mario was all curled up on one of the chairs but he slept pretty much through the night. When I woke up in the morning I realized the painting I’d seen wasn’t Santa after all, but a painting of pink, red and white flowers! I really was out of it, but it was probably the best sleep I’d had in a long time! I’d wake up just to fall right back into slumber as if I’d never woken up, and didn’t wake up with a headache at all. Now, if only the doctor would hurry and release me, it would be wonderful. I didn’t want to spend my whole Saturday at the hospital again now that I knew all I had to do was stay hydrated and get over this darn virus.