Having a Cell Phone...

We lived many years without cell phones. We didn't have them when we married in 2001. We didn't get them when we were both promoted to supervisor at our respective banks (much to the annoyance of the higher-ups...). We didn't even get them when we found I was pregnant with our first child. We just didn't need them and, more, I really didn't want one. I often told people, "If I want you to be able to reach me, I'll tell you where I am!"

What I found out was this: being pregnant in Virginia Beach, surrounded by co-workers and less than three miles from the hospital was far different from being pregnant in a teeny tiny speck of a town in Indiana, surrounded by cornfields and more than fifteen miles from the nearest decent-sized town.

I found this out when I woke up at 22 weeks 5 days pregnant with blood streaked down my thighs. And my husband had just left for work. And his job was about two hours away. Hmm.

Turns out, everything was under control at that point (at least the doctor thought so) and we headed home, shaken up but otherwise fine.

But when we met my mother-in-law for lunch that Saturday in December, she announced that she was giving us each a year of cell phone service as a Christmas present that year. For the first time, I didn't resist or protest the idea.



When I went into actual labor five days later, I was unendingly grateful for her gift. My cell phone ended up being invaluable as I was living away from home and had to call friends and family. It also meant the hospital could always reach me if needed to report on my daughter's condition or attain consent for a procedure. I've probably had more world-renowned, high-profile doctors call me on my cell than anyone else I know...

I still have a cell. And I like it. It's a handy little thing, really. Could I live without it? I think so. Heck, I manage to maintain a blog with dial-up...

But I'm grateful that I don't have to. And I'm even more grateful to have had this little technological tool when little C. decided to make her dramatic entrance!

For more tools that make a mom's life easier, check out Toolin' Up Tuesday, hosted at Life as Mom.