Birth Stories

I've been thinking a lot lately about my 2 previous pregnancy and birth experiences with Abby and Nathan. This one is so different in lots of ways. First of all, not knowing the gender has given this pregnancy a totally different dynamic. I am excited about not knowing and being surprised but I don't feel as "connected" in some ways because I've not really been able to visualize this child like I did with Abby and Nathan. (Of course, I had NO IDEA what their personalities would be like, so knowing the gender and having a name to call them by didn't do too much for me to *really* connect with them, I don't suppose.)

Also, KNOWING that I will have this baby the last week in April or before is a totally different thing, too. There's not the waiting, the anticipating, the negotiating with the baby in utero, the FREAKING OUT AND BEGGING GOD TO JUST MAKE MY LABOR START, (the humor), no wondering what the labor process will be like, etc. Instead, I will be scheduled, go in, be cut open, sewn up and that will be that. (Please, let it be that simple. Please.) I did know with Nathan that we would have to evict him, but I figured it would be of the chemical sort, not the surgical sort. Part of me is sad about having another C-Section (yes, I know some folks think it's totally weird that I *want* to go into labor and try to have this baby naturally) but I know that with my history and with what we have been dealing with as far as the gestational diabetes, it's the right thing to do. If I DID go into labor on my own, I would have to be hooked up to all kinds of monitors, have insulin the whole time, and that's just not how I would want things to be. (I'd like to labor at home as long as I could and then go in but that's never been an option for me and I don't guess I will ever get to experience that.) I'm resigned to the fact that a C-Section is the best {safest} way to go and I have a resolute peace about it.


By the way, there's nothing "graphic", of course, in the video or pictures - just lots of photos of their first few moments.

Abby's arrival VIDEO



Nathan 5.11.06 and more (with pics!) HERE



By the way - I've always thought, in looking at those 2 pictures, that they perfectly sum up the relationship I have with each one.

Photo #1 - I am exhausted, Abby is screaming. Yup, that's about right.

Photo #2 - I am peaceful and so is he. Yup, that's my boy.

(Despite what one might think, I do not value my relationship with one over the other - It's just a perfect illustration of how different God made them. And I wouldn't have them any other way.)