A Birth Story...

Twelve years ago today I was in a hospital bed hooked to various monitors with an iv in my hand and an epidural in my back. And I had been there since the previous night when I showed up in the ER carrying on like I was the first woman to ever go into labor and thinking that I would surely die before I ever saw the light of day.  


I didn't die. But oh, how I wanted to before that baby boy took his first breath of fresh air at 10:39pm that following Saturday night.  Yes. I labored for over 24 hours before I finally threw up my white flag and agreed to let them wheel my hard-headed self into that operating room and go in and get that child of mine, who I proclaimed loudly between moans and shrieks of excruciating pain was going to be grounded until he was 18 for putting his mama through this!  


I also looked at his daddy at one point and told him that I hope he never wanted any more children because HE WOULD NOT EVER BE GETTING ANY MORE!!!!  


Deliriousness had pretty well set in and I think I was close to passing out from pain when they wheeled me toward the OR, past my loyal fans and supporters in the waiting area because I barely recall seeing their faces.  But I do remember them and don't think I'll ever forget the looks of worry and concern on their faces or the tears in their eyes.  


I felt loved. And supported.  Maybe more in that moment than I ever had before in my life.  


So I knew, that although I was in the most horrific pain I'd ever known and completely terrified and disappointed to be having a c-section, that everything was going to be just fine.


Minutes later, I heard the sweetest sound my ears had ever heard when that 8 pound, 6 ounce baby boy let out his first little cry.  I couldn't see him yet because of the c-section curtain but Darin said, with happy tears in his eyes, "He looks just like your baby picture!"


And then I saw him and touched his sweet little baby face and my heart hasn't been the same since...


Happy Birthday, Devin Lee!

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~Rajneesh