Monday, May 31, 2010

The Miracle of Life

It's amazing to me that one of God's greatest miracles happens every day and that average people like myself get the privilege to participate in it.

On Friday afternoon, my son came into the world.  It was a miracle and that's really the only way I know how to describe it.  It was both the hardest day of my life and the most beautiful.  Yes, I believe it was an even more beautiful day than the day Drew and I got married.  The amount of work that went into giving birth to Gabriel made the reward of holding him in my arms for the first time the most amazing moment of my life.  Drew and I both feel that the day was more special than our wedding, because it was the culmination of what happened that day as we covenanted together to become a family under God.

In any case... the last couple of days have been amazing, as well.  Although they have been rough at times (like when Gabriel slept only three hours one night and cried inconsolably the rest of the time), overall, it has been absolutely incredible.

Holding the precious bundle of joy that God gave us to raise...
feeling inexplicable love for a little person I have only just met...
staring into his beautiful face as he sleeps in my arms...
having him study my face with interest...
snuggling him close as I nurse him...
hearing him breathe and make baby noises...
seeing him calm down from crying as I swaddle him...
knowing that I am his main source of food, love, and care.

Motherhood is turning out to be so much more beautiful that I could ever have dreamed.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Surprise!

Things don't always turn out how you plan them.  However, often the best surprises are born when you least expect them. :)

On Tuesday afternoon of this week, I visited my chiropractor whom I have been seeing weekly during the last two months of my pregnancy.  After adjusting me and taking a "look" at Gabriel, he informed me that, while my body was ready for delivery, the baby was nice and happy where he was and probably wouldn't be born until Monday, maybe Tuesday.  On Thursday, my midwife told me the same thing at my weekly appointment.

With that in mind, and with a four-day weekend stretching in front of us, Drew booked two nights at the Gaylord Texan for us to have a little getaway before Gabriel's arrival.  Before checking in, we ate dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse, one of my favorite restaurants.  We got to the hotel and checked in around 8:30 and watched the end of the Office before turning in around 9:30.  It usually takes me a while to go to sleep, and being at the end of my pregnancy was not helping matters.  It was around 10:45 before I started drifting off.  Just then, my water broke!

I woke Drew up after making use of the toilet and we made the decision to make the drive home.  Fortunately, the hotel gave us a refund, since we'd only been checked in for like 3 hours.  We made it home at around 12:15 and went to bed.  By this time, I was tired and had no trouble falling asleep.  About two hours later, I woke up with my first contractions.

Around 7am, we headed in to the birthing center and Gabriel made his entrance into the world ten hours later at 5:16pm... one day before his due date.

Drew's four-day weekend is proving to be most valuable now!

Monday, May 17, 2010

The Past Two Months

This is terrible.  I can't believe I haven't updated about Baby in over two months.  Actually, I can.  March and April were absolutely crazy with school.  I could hardly focus on my last assignments, as I was looking forward to being finished and being able to devote all my time to preparing for Gabriel to arrive.  It was hard to care about Romeo and Juliet and Huckleberry Finn (the subjects of my final papers for two of my classes) knowing that in a few short weeks, I would be a mommy. :)

In any case, I finished up (and managed to pull all A's) and began working on projects around the house.  Some may call it nesting, but I'm not sure if I'm to that point yet.  With everything I've heard about nesting, I feel like it's random inspiration to do random projects around the house -- like organizing spices that you haven't touched in a year.  These projects have been on my plate for a looong time; I'm just forcing myself to do it before Baby's arrival, as I know my time afterwards will be... better spent. ;) But maybe I am nesting.  I don't know.

So far, I have cleaned out our closet and the guest closet (making room for all of Gabriel's stuff; that room will eventually be the nursery).  Both Drew and I had tons of clothes and shoes that we just didn't wear any more.  It was kind of unreal.  So, about four boxes and five large bags later, I made a couple runs to the good will.  It felt good to get all that stuff off of my hands!  I still have a box in my car and one in the closet... just in case I find anything else that needs to go.  I also finished all of the thank you cards from both of my baby showers and washed all of the new baby clothes/blankets and put them away in a nice, orderly fashion.  Five loads of baby laundry was a project in itself, needless to say.

My next project is either to reorganize the kitchen or the master bathroom, depending on my level of energy and commitment.  The kitchen is a huuge project, as I never really organized it when I got married.  I just kind of stuck stuff wherever it would fit and moved it around as I got more things.  It's a mess.  The bathroom cabinets are semi-organized... just junked out.  What I really need is to get shelves put in them (for some reason the builder didn't think to put those in?), but I doubt that'll happen before Baby.

So, that's been my life for the past two months.  Meanwhile, I'm getting bigger and more uncomfortable. I am also trying to take a 30 minute walk every day; apparently it helps to build the muscles that I'll need for labor/delivery.  It's incredibly hard, especially now that I'm starting to have PMS-like cramps nearly every day, but I know it'll be worth it.

One week and five days until my due date!

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