Happy Birthday, Christian!
Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 12:55AM Like a good mother, I am writing Christian's birthday post a day late. (Two days, if you are counting actual 24-hour days)
It really does sound strange that he is eight years old. Last year I thought that seven sounded so much older than six, but eight just sounds impossible. It cannot have been eight years ago that I woke up with that feeling...that indescribable yet unmistakable feeling. I knew. I took Michaela to her music class and told the other moms there,"I'm in labor." They looked at me like I was crazy. But I knew. I went home and Michaela and I did our normal at-home thing, whatever that was. I told Mike I was in labor. He got busy putting the crib together. I was talking to my mom on the phone and walking through our apartment while I had contractions. She said,"How far apart are they?" I timed the following one and said,"Oh! They're like five minutes apart!" She cried out,"Get off the phone and go tell Mike!"
By the time we had someone watching Michaela temporarily, and someone else on the way for the duration, I really knew. We got in the car and Mike headed for the hospital. I walked and walked in my room, until they made me get all hooked up so they could monitor things. I felt good. I was very alert. It was completely different from my labor with Michaela. Pretty soon my midwife said my body was ready and I could push. I pushed when they told me to, for about twenty minutes, and out popped the prettiest baby I had ever seen. A short trip down the birth canal will do wonders not only for your complexion but for the shape of your head!
He was so sweet.
Now he's eight.
Not that there is a juxtaposition there. Ha! He is still sweet (some of the time). He is a passionate and complex person. And he was much easier to photograph when he was a newborn.
I took cupcakes to his class to celebrate, and they sang to him. I think he likes the limelight.
After school I took him along with his sisters to get ice cream. I wanted to get a good birthday shot.
I'm pretty certain I didn't exactly accomplish my goal as far as the picture taking goes, but he enjoyed the ice cream. He went on to earn his next belt in karate that evening, but unfortunately by the time Mike returned with him from the test my brain was all out of working power and I didn't take a picture. He was excited about it, though. It was a cool ending to a special day.
Eight years. What a ride! Just think, in eight more years he'll be driving.
Help.
Reader Comments (2)
Oh it does go lightning fast, doesn't it?
I love labor stories. Yours sounds so calm. No rushing, no screaming - not even an epidural!
That IS them most beautiful newborn I've ever seen!