Have you ever had a moment where your entire world shifted on its axis & nothing would ever be the same?
That moment for me was 11:42pm on Saturday, October 26, 2013. The minute my son was born was the single greatest moment of my life and one that has shifted my entire being ever since.
Five years ago, on a Friday night, I started the early symptoms of labor. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty, but I will say it led us to the hospital to be checked and after a few hours and only being dilated to 2cm, I was sent home. We arrived home around 3am Saturday morning and I spent the next five hours getting up nearly every 5-10 minutes to go to the bathroom with increasing back labor. This being my first pregnancy, I didn’t really know what to expect, but the minute those back pains started I knew something was in process. Finally, around 11am, I had enough and the pain was getting worse, although not consistent, and we headed back to the hospital. In the time that we had left just seven hours prior to the time we arrived again, I went from being dilated from a 2 to a 5. In hospital lingo, I was ready to be admitted and we were having a baby!
I’ll admit, I was in denial. We had plans that evening to go out to a new restaurant to celebrate my 25th birthday. Despite getting an epidural, my water breaking, and being hooked up to an IV, I was still saying “Oh maybe it’s false labor, we can still go out to dinner.” Ha! Who was I kidding?? I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I canceled the reservations we had for 6pm at about 5pm and resigned myself to the fact that I was having a baby on my birthday!
Just a couple of hours later around 7pm, it was time to start pushing and I was gearing up to meet my sweet baby {of which the gender we didn’t know yet}. It seems different plans were in the making and despite four hours of pushing, the baby was stuck in my pelvis, I was feeling everything in my right hip and was just plain old exhausted. The doctor called for a c-section, where I proceeded to start bawling because that’s not how it was supposed to go in my mind.
I was wheeled to the OR and prepped, and within what felt like minutes, our baby was out. I was so concerned because it wasn’t crying, and I kept asking, “Why isn’t it crying, why isn’t it crying?” I had to say “it” because we still didn’t know if it was a boy or girl. Finally, after being shell-shocked from being stuck in my pelvis for so long, our beautiful baby started to cry, and my husband looked and said, “It’s a boy! It’s a boy!” I remember looking over at my son being tended to by the nurses and thinking “Holy crap, I have a little boy.” That’s all I remember for the next few hours. I don’t remember holding him for the first time, I don’t remember his stats being announced; I just remember waking up to a room full of my family members oohing & awwing over a precious little baby.
The next few days were a blur of no sleep and lots of visitors and I had to be on IV antibiotics due to extensive blood loss, but we were discharged on Wednesday, October 30th and our life as a family of three officially began. To say it was a whirlwind would be an understatement but there is not a single second I would take back. The most beautiful, handsome baby boy I have ever laid my eyes on was born on my 25th birthday, Saturday, October 26, 2013 at 11:42pm, weighing in at 8lbs, 11oz and 21.5 inches long.
Ever since that very moment, I have been overwhelmed with a love that I never even knew existed. From his first smile to his first word, the first time he crawled to his first steps, from his first tooth to his first dentist visit, from his first day of preschool to his first day of pre-k, every single moment has been filled with a joy that I can’t even begin to describe.
He is the light of my life, the motivation I need to make it through each day, the driving force for me to be the best version of myself that I could possibly be, and the reason for the indescribable amount of love in my heart. Being his Momma has been the single greatest blessing of my life and I am so lucky that he is all mine.
So today, my birthday buddy, I want to wish you the happiest 5th birthday in the entire world. You deserve all the fun, happiness, & love that is coming your way! I love you so much, sweet boy!!
The love I feel for this little boy is unlike anything I have ever experienced, and I can’t put into words how happy and grateful I am that I was chosen to be his Momma.
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