Do You Know What Today Is?

It’s my blog-a-versary!  Does anyone else remember that song?  I think it was by Usher maybe?  Surely someone does.  Anyhoo, today is mine.  It’s been a whole year since I started spilling my guts out across the internet.  I’m so glad I started this little space, all thanks to Honeywine.  It’s helped me to sort, analyze, and realize my feelings in a way that just sitting and thinking doesn’t.  It’s also helped me to connect with people I otherwise wouldn’t have ever known.  I can’t imagine not checking in with Penelope every other day or so, not knowing about Aunt Becky’s precious little Amelia, not being able to shoot the shit with ETW or Ron.  I wouldn’t be able to commiserate about dating foibles with KC, or single motherhood with Dutchy, or laugh my ass off at Lola’s sassiness.  I wouldn’t know Karen, who is brilliant and brilliantly funny, or Teeni, who may possibly be the sweetest blogger out there, or Apathetic Bliss, who’s a fabulous single mama.  Most recently, I am thankful for finding Ms. Moon.  Her words envelop me with emotions, and never fail to move me, no matter what the topic.  Ok, ok, enough fawning over y’all!  I do love ya, though, and am happy to know you, no matter what.

On a non-blog-a-versary note, my nephew was born yesterday!  E went into the hospital on Thursday night, to prep for induction on Friday morning.  She was having some mild contractions, but nothing too strong Thursday night, and was giving pitocin early the next morning.  The poor girl was in labor until 2:40 Saturday afternoon.  Her husband, my mom, her in-laws, and I were there throughout most of it.  We stood watch over our precious E and our even more precious baby.  When her water broke on Friday afternoon, we thought it wouldn’t be much longer before we’d meet her son, but that boy was stubborn!  It seemed he was face up, and each time the nurses would lower the pitocin, the contractions would slow and lose their oomph.  Still, we were optimistic that it would only be a matter of hours, and we all stayed the night except for E’s FIL.  Her MIL and I did our best to sleep in the waiting room, but the couches were hard as a rock and there were people carrying on like it was the fourth of July or something. 

Nothing had changed by 7 am, so my mother and I came home to get a shower and a little bit of rest.  I hugged my boys quickly and promptly passed the fuck out.  I was awoken by my step-father at about 11, and he told me that my mom had called (she couldn’t sleep and had gone back to the hospital) and that the doctor said if she still hadn’t dialated much by noon, they were going to prep for a C-section.  I jumped up, threw on some clothes and brushed my hair, and made my way back to the hospital.  I let our father, other sister, my pals, and my Fireman know what was going on.  Sidenote- this is how great my Fireman is…he was in the middle of a 24 hour shift on the busiest ambulance in town.  When he got a call that brought him to the hospital my sister was at, he went up to check on her and talk to my mother.  I wasn’t even there, and he hadn’t told me he was going.  He really is that kind. 

E had opted for an epidural at about 2 am, so wasn’t in tremendous pain, but she was completely exhausted.  She’d been laboring for so long, and hadn’t been able to eat anything more than jello and popsicles (which is more than they’d let me have with my babies).  It seemed as though a C-section was imminent.  A new nurse had just come on duty and offered her patented technique for making the baby come out quick.  She knew E didn’t want to have surgery unless it was necessary, so she told E to lay flat on her back, with a blanket rolled up underneath her lower back.  It worked two-fold.  Not only did it make her cervix dialate (she was at 10 when they checked her 30 minutes later), it also made the baby roll over to face down.  When the nurse said that she was fully dialated, E’s face was awash in relief.  She knew the finish line was in sight! 

She pushed for about an hour and a half before her little guy came into the world, crying with the strength of a lion.  E’s FIL and I were right outside the door, listening to everything.  She had told us that we could be in the room, but it was a little crowded, so we opted to wait outside.  As soon as we heard the cry, we both started weeping with joy.  I was there with my older sister when she had her first baby, and now I was there when my younger sister had hers.  I saw the in-laws become grandparents for the first time.  The sheer joy on everyone’s face was amazing, and the baby was perfect.  He weighed 8 lbs., 12 oz., and was 20 and 3/4 inches long, and of course, beautiful.  I took tons of pictures, but most of them were taken on my BIL’s camera, so I don’t have many on my computer yet.  However, I have a few to share.

E worked hard, and I am very proud of her and my BIL, and my newest nephew!