Hindsight

When I went into labor with Sam, I had this whole list of people who I planned to notify that we were in labor and then a second part of the list of people who'd get the news when baby arrived from us before it went on Facebook or anything like that. But I guess because of the timing of when labor started, I only notified our parents, Anna and Lisa, and then my friend Danielle. (Our parents obviously shared the news with our siblings as well.) By the time it was morning and an acceptable time for text messages, I was way past thinking about who should know- so it was a lost cause. It probably turned out to be for the best, due to the duration, because my mom, Chad's mom, and Danielle all shared the exact same feeling-- by lunch time, they were worried sick and thought something was wrong, but none of them wanted to check in and bother us while we were trying to bring a little person into the world. Thankfully nothing was wrong, but I just can't help but be thankful that we didn't tell anyone else until afterwards, because I can't imagine have a whole network of people worried sick! In hindsight, telling very few people that the process has started is the way to go!

Another thing we did that we'd never done before was not find out the sex of the baby. I really struggled with the idea of that on the front end- you know since I am one of the most type-A people, ever, ha! But once we decided that this was the route we were going, I never looked back. It was so fun and added so much anticipation and joy. IF (serious big huge IF) we ever do this again, we'll go that route for sure. When I pictured that baby swaddled and in it's bed, I pictured a girl, but when I pictured the baby in the carseat, it was always a boy. I had boy dreams and girls dream, and I just never had a feeling one way or another. Everyone else who shared their opinion thought it was a girl- mainly because it was so different- I carried different, the pregnancy was different, etc... except my friend Jill. She was certain it was a boy and even wrote on a note to me in April "pending baby boy #4"-- and she was right. When Sam was born and Chad said "it's a boy" it was so perfect. My only feeling was "that's exactly who it's supposed to be" and I scooped that baby up so fast. Oh he's perfection! In hindsight, not finding out the gender is certainly the way to go!

I have now delivered 3 babies and really couldn't have had 3 more different experiences if I tried! Max was very planned-- we attended natural child birth classes, had birth plans and books and bags packed. I knew exactly how things we were going to go and we were going to have him in the water at North Fulton Hospital. All went well until it didn't... it was a 55 hours long labor, the first 50 were natural, I missed 2 nights sleep, it took forever to progress, I HATED the water and how off balance it made me, and at the 50 hour mark, when I asked for the epidural and a young guy walked in my room with a huge needle, I professed my love to him. We slept for 5 hours, woke up and I pushed for about 30 minutes and then had a baby relatively easily, but by then, most of the epidural had worn off, so I felt plenty of the birth and then was able to walk myself to the bathroom after he was born. With the 1st baby, it is like a train drove through my body and then you get hit by exhaustion that you can't even comprehend. I don't care what anyone says, I will argue that going from no kids to 1 kid is WAY harder than all the subsequent additions. With Jack, my water broke at 35 weeks and no one was more shocked than me. I was not ready, didn't know where the carseat was, hadn't even thought about packing a bag, and I was super scared that his lungs wouldn't be ready. I got to Northside hospital with NO contractions, got checked in all smiles and ease, got my room, sat in the bed and watched HGTV all day while hanging out with Chad and Kellee, got to 10 centimeters, pushed for 1 and a half contractions and had a baby. I had no soreness and was up and about and showered the next day like nothing had happened. And then Sam was my home birth. In hindsight, the only thing I can say is that you're never really ready and you never really know how it's going to go-- I think it is so important to have a plan but to also have an open mind and people around you that you really trust. 

Lastly, back when I was single and had a clean car and spent most of my money on shoes, I worked at a church and was on staff with the youth. I had this one small group leader named Lindsey- and as the director of small groups, I obviously kept up with her some and appreciated her heart for the students but I didn't know her particularly well. But since then, she's married and had 2 boys of her own and moved up north- yet we're more in touch and in tune as mothers than we ever were before when we lived within miles of each other. God continues to lay ME on her heart at random times and she'll wake up and pray for ME and then check in afterwards and find out that something big was going on in my life. It is one of the coolest things ever and I'm so appreciative of her and God for giving me a prayer warrior like that. Well anyway, she caught up on my blog last night and then left me a comment "no pictures?" Oh myyyy!! In hindsight, poor baby #3 got gipped! So this is for Lindsey....