8 Years and a Birth Story

Three blog posts in 24 hours...wow! Anyhow, today is mine and Craig's eight year wedding anniversary...hooray for us! We're celebrating the momentous occasion as only we can...this means he's  out of town for work, and I'm at home taking care of the kids and the house and slowly going insane. ;o) Ah well. My mom will be here in a few weeks so we'll go out then, which means dinner and the final Harry Potter movie. Yes, we are huge nerds. Yes, we are okay with that. It's mostly for me but I suspect he enjoys the movies more than he lets on or we wouldn't have seen all of them since #4 in the theatre. Oh, and he saw #1 by himself at the theatre back in the day...can't remember when it came out but we may not have even been married yet. ANYHOW, it has been a great 4/5 of a decade (yes, I just used a fraction...I'm a nerd, remember? And a math nerd at that.) ...ups and downs, lots of changes, but overall I can't complain. I got the love of my life, who is my best friend and a fellow nerd out of the deal along with a move to North Carolina seven years ago which resulted in seven years at an awesome job and lots of great friends, and not to mention two adorable children...even if one is sort of evil. ;o) I should probably mention that my soulmate/love of my life/best friend/father of my children/partner in crime also forgot about our anniversary this year. *sigh* I am giving him a pass (after I give him some minor grief about it ;o), only because he IS super-busy and he finally knows my birth date and usually I try to save him the embarrassment of forgetting (because every year I know he's going to forget) by saying things frequently in the preceding weeks/days like, "Hey, honey, what do you want to do for our anniversary, which is next Tuesday?" or "I know we cannot go out on the 12th which is, of course, our actual anniversary, so what would be a better day?" I didn't do that this year, just because I wanted to see if he'd remember. Nope. Ah well.

CJ's Birth Day
So, if you've been reading this blog since it's beginning--back when I was pregnant with Ava--you no doubt remember the horrendous story of her birth. If not, well, chances are I've told you at some point. If not, you can find it here: Ava's Birth Day
You might want to avoid it though, it's graphic and disgusting. (Okay, so I find childbirth in general to be a pretty disgusting miracle...sorry, I'm pretty squeamish when it comes to those things!)

CJ's birth was, thankfully, NOTHING like Ava's.

I went in for a prenatal visit on my due date, which was May 17th...since there was no sign of impending labor save for the fact that I'd been walking around dilated 4.5 cm for a few weeks, my awesome doctor went ahead and put me on the schedule for an induction on Friday, May 20th, even though policy is that you have to be at least one week overdue before they induce. She has my undying gratitude for this. ANYHOW, they called me around 5pm on the 20th to let me know they were ready...I showered, grabbed my bags, and Craig and I took off for the hospital, both of us ready to get that baby out! Poor Ava stayed behind with my mom, completely unaware that her life was about to totally change. We got to the hospital, were checked in to a labor and delivery room, and just chilled out for awhile, watching TV. I don't remember the exact time frame but I think it was around 8pm when the doctor broke my water. This started hardcore contractions...I can't even describe them, but they were bad. After three of them I got an epidural because I'm no hero and last time I checked they weren't handing out awards for suffering through a drug-free delivery, so yeah. I'm all about some drugs. Unlike the epidural I had with Ava, this one worked, and it worked GOOOOOOOD. I swear, it melted my brain a little, and not in a bad way. We watched more TV, I got a few injections of Pitocin in my IV to keep the labor progressing. I dilated quickly and shortly after midnight, the nurse asked if I was ready to push. (I said, "Honestly, who's ever really ready for that?" She wasn't amused. Okay then.) I pushed twice, felt nothing, she called the doctor in. I pushed two more times, felt nothing. The doctor told me to push one more time...I did, I felt nothing, and CJ popped out. It was AMAZING...I was laughing and crying and as Craig pointed out, didn't even break a sweat. I look pretty good in the pictures taken just seconds after delivery, if I do say so myself. ;o) When Ava was born, I kind of looked like I belonged in a body bag. It was BAD. The post-delivery healing was just as bad: I ripped again and had stitches and it seemed like it took forever to recover, but my second born--although smaller than his sister--still weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz. and that does a little damage, no matter how fast the delivery. Overall though, it was a MUCH better experience for which I am extremely grateful!

 Just a few minutes after birth!

Mommy and CJ when he was just a few minutes old...I'm happy and relieved at such an easy delivery!

DA BEARS!

 Sweet baby boy

 

CJ with his bili-light: both of my kids had jaundice as newborns, but CJ's was bad enough to earn him a few days wrapped up in a special light. He looked radioactive. Poor kid.