On Monday night I went out for three hours, and when I got home, discovered that I had no phone service (apparently caused by the storm we had). Since it was after 10 pm and I needed to immediately make arrangements for a friend to watch my kids the next day, as well as to get driving directions to NJ (where I needed to pick up ds14 from his camp bus), this was NOT a welcome realization. I dashed out to a neighbor and used their phone and internet, then came home, relieved that though I didn’t have a dial tone, at least I had taken care of everything that would need taking care of until the next night when I got home.
Well, I was wrong. Once I got home, I cleaned up the kitchen and dining room, and headed for bed, so that I would get a decent night’s sleep before doing so much driving. I almost always read something before I go to sleep, and while I was reading, I hazily noticed that my back was slightly damp. I didn’t really pay much attention since I was so involved in thinking about my reading, but ten minutes later, it suddenly hit me that I wasn’t imagining it, that I really was damp. I sat up suddenly, and felt the bed all around me – wet. I have to honestly say that right at that minute I was came close to panic, realizing that my waters broke (five weeks early) and I had no way to reach my midwife, dh wouldn’t be home until the next afternoon, and since it was after midnight by then, it was too late to go to a neighbor to use their phone.
After a few minutes in which my brain wasn’t working properly, I quickly got dressed and drove over to a friend’s house, fervently hoping that she would hear me knocking, and not ignore it if she did hear it. I was so tense worrying about what to do if she didn’t answer that I almost cried with relief when she opened the door! She generously loaned me her cell phone so I would have a way to make calls until my line was repaired. I called the midwife when I got home to give her a heads up about the situation, and told her I was going to be visualizing that it was a high leak and it would seal up on its own. I went to sleep, and when I woke up – no more leaking, no more signs of early labor! I called my midwife and told her about it. Of course there’s no way to know what happened without doing testing that would make giving birth essential within a very short time. She said that there are two layers to the amniotic sac, the amnion and chorion. Sometimes the outer layer breaks, and water that is trapped between the two layers is released, but the sac where the baby is stays intact. That seems to be the most likely scenario to explain what happened with me. Isn’t that fascinating?
Today, two days later, the phone suddenly started working again (I still need to cancel the repairman’s visit, which was supposed to be tomorrow – the fastest someone could come out). It’s amazing how much more appreciative I am for having a dial tone when I pick up the phone than I was before!
By the way, ds came home from camp last night (dh ended up driving to NJ to get him since the midwife felt it was very unwise for me to take a chance of going into labor after the excitement of the night before and drive there myself as planned), and dd12 came home this afternoon. It’s so wonderful to have them back again!
Avivah
Avivah, I think you should own a cell phone. I’m so glad things seem to be okay for now, and your land-line phone is behaving, but you could also be out and need to get in touch with your midwife or your dh and there just don’t seem to be so many pay phones around these days. Your story scared me! (Granted, I’m only 3 weeks post-partum myself and probably still a little over-hormonal, but still!)
Before you say that you don’t want a monthly cell phone bill when you would never actually use the minutes, I completely agree. I recommend a prepaid plan. Get someone to give you an old phone, activate it as a prepaid phone, and keep it around for emergencies.
I’m sure you’ll do your own research, but I have a T-mobile prepaid phone. Buying a SIM card and activation code online was something like $10-$15. $100 gets you 1000 minutes that don’t expire for a year, and then the 2nd year, if you haven’t used up the minutes, you add $10. You only get an additional 30 minutes, but because you did the $100 the first time, all of the unused minutes plus the additional half hour don’t expire for another year. You can go on like that indefinitely, unless they change the way it works.
And if you do decide to go with t-mobile, I have an extra phone you could have for postage — just email me so we can exchange address info.
Miriam – congratulations on your new baby!
My mother agrees with you that I should have a cell phone, so she decided to stop arguing with me about it and gave me one for Chanuka, and as part of the gift included monthly service paid for, for the entire year. Very generous of her, wasn’t it?! 🙂 Thank you for the frugal tips for using a cell phone – they look very useful. And thank you for offering to send me a phone! Very sweet of you.