Remembering

On Friday, my cousin and his wife welcomed their first child.  Thank goodness for technology, because it was on facebook that I found out that her water broke, and through texting that I was notified that she had been born.

They live in Las Vegas, so the chance of me seeing this new baby anytime soon is quite small.

I do love babies!

Every time I hear the news of a new baby, I immediately start to reminisce about my own birthing experience.  Does everyone do that?

And now you all get to read about it!  

(Aren't you lucky?)

Ciara was late.  I can remember on my due date taking a walk with a co-worker (while at work, I think he was trying to get me to go into labor) and people would stop and ask when I was due.

Telling them all that today was my due date was kind of upsetting.

It got worse the next few days when I would have to say, "Oh, it was 5 days ago!"

She stayed in 10 days too long, and we finally decided it was time for her to get out.

She was officially evicted on April 19th.

I didn't want to be induced (I was hoping to go without an epidural) but was so tired of being pregnant, and going to the non-stress tests twice a week.  

Plus, I had almost no amniotic fluid left.

Anyway, they broke my water, and hooked me up to pitocin.

Wow, that stuff worked fast!

I was in the worst pain ever for about 4 hours when I finally changed my mind and got the epidural.

I slept for the rest of my labour, pushed for about 2 hours (2 hours and 20 minutes to be exact) and there she was, my 9 lb baby girl.

Caden was a little different.

They  knew he was going to be big, and at the last ultrasound (a week before his due date), they estimated him to be close to 11 lbs.  

So my Dr decided that she was not "comfortable" delivery such a large baby, and pushed me to have a c-section.  

I knew that he was not that big, and that I could do this the "regular" way, but after her terrifying me with stories of paralyzed arms and brain damage, we decided to have the c-section.

It was so quick, and anti-climactic.

But I did have a healthy almost 10 lb baby boy.

I wish I could go back and experience those days just one more time.

(Yes, I realized I could just have another baby to experience it again, but I really don't want another baby, just the experience of giving birth again.  What a magical day!)