Happy Birthday, Animal!

Today is the Animal’s first birthday. I always think the first birthday is funny because the kid has no clue what’s going on, and the parents get all excited. Well, that’s as it should be. What an amazing year full of nasty diapers, spit-up, rolling over, crawling, walking, and babbling. I am ever amazed at how much babies learn to do in just 12 short months.

38 weeks!

The day the Animal was born, I had a very bad morning. I was hugely pregnant and 6 days past the due date. I had been walking. I had eaten spicy Mexican food. I had tried pineapple. Let’s just say the only thing I didn’t try was the castor oil trick.

Nothing seemed to be initiating anything. So, on the Wednesday morning of the day he was born, Aaron found me in tears in our bedroom. I was tired of being uncomfortable and so ready to look into the face of our baby boy. Aaron held me, and then he reminded me of one truth: A baby can’t stay in utero forever. One way or another, this kid would be born.

So, we went to our doctor’s appointment, and I asked for a little assistance. I braced myself for the pain and was pleased to find that I had none. She said she’d see me later. That was at 9 am.

Aaron had taken the day off from work because he’d “had a feeling,” so we went to Lowe’s. This was Aaron’s way of supporting my need to walk around. Within minutes of being at Lowe’s, I knew something was just “different,” so I forced Aaron to leave the store, and we were on our way home.

I was having some interesting and regular contractions, so we hurried to get our ducks in a row. I had sworn I would take a shower and look nice before we left for the hospital. I got my online students squared away. I called the doctor’s office to see if they really wanted me to come in (they said yes), and then Aaron and I took a few moments to eat some pizza. If this was the real deal, I knew I wouldn’t eat for some time. (The memory of us standing in the kitchen and shoveling pizza slices still makes me giggle. We were so chill in a moment that could have been full of panic. But hey, we had to eat!)

We arrived at the hospital around 1 pm. I was definitely in labor, so we started making all the appropriate calls to make sure our parents were there and that someone picked up Miss Sassy Pants to get her to the main event on time.

Five attempts at putting in my IV later, I was wheeled into my labor and delivery room. The epidural was FINALLY put in (he was eating lunch and didn’t believe that I was progressing as quickly as I was), and I was able to calm down. Miss SP arrived with my mom around the same time Aaron’s mom arrived, and we had a few minutes to let her see all of the machines hooked up to me before she was taken into the waiting room.

Dr. Washington came in to check again, and the next thing I knew, she was saying, “Ok, we’re going to have a baby.”

Two pushes, and at 3:53 pm, the Animal was born — screaming and peeing all over the doctor. That’s our favorite part of the story — that and the fact that I literally couldn’t feel anything and kept saying to Aaron, “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything!” while laughing like an idiot.

After the nurses laid their bets as to how much he weighed, we found out that our “little” man was 9 pounds, 10 ounces. They handed him to me, and the rest is, well, history.

Resting with Mommy

Our little Animal has been a blessing to our family since we discovered we were expecting him. And now, 12 months later, he’s still blessing us with his beautiful blue eyes and adorable smile.