how he came to be

November 24th - My birthday. I was feeling pretty cruddy all day and thought I might have a stomach virus. Needness to say, it was not the best birthday I'd ever had.

November 25th- Thanksgiving. I'm feeling much better and get to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast and festivities. And knowing it might be my best chance, I decide to do shop black friday, starting at midnight. I stayed up until 2:30 that night.

November 26th - The stomach thing is back, and I'm beginning to think might have overdone it a little. :) Feeling especially pregnant and ready to be done with it all, I posted this message at 6:36pm on Facebook. "Dear baby, I now give you permission to come out. Any time you're ready. Like, now, maybe."

November 27th - I am feeling a little better, but still not up to par. I got up with the kids around 8am and let Brian sleep in. After he got up and got ready for the day I decided to lay down, around 10am. While laying down I felt one really strong contraction but didn't think much of it. Abby came and layed down next to me and asked me if I would get something for her she couldn't reach. So I got up and as I did, woooosh. My water broke. I walked into the bathroom and just stood there, completely gobsmacked. My water broke early with both of the other kids, but I didn't think it would happen a third time! So I got my bearings back and walked into the kitchen where Brian was eating breakfast with Carter, and I said, "you wanna have a baby today?" He looked down at my completely soaked jeans and said, "NO. WAY." And we both just stood there in shock.

When I gave the baby permission to come out the night before, I really didn't mean it. I didn't have any laundry done, my hospital bag wasn't packed, I still had five family photoshoots left to edit, we were planning on putting up Christmas decorations that day.... the list went on and on. Based on my doctor's appointment a few days before, I really thought there was no way I was having the baby early. But lo and behold, he was on his way, almost three weeks early.

So before we left for the hospital I took a shower, we did a load of laundry and packed my bag. We dropped the kids off at Brian's parents house and got to the hospital at noon.

My new OB (I switched doctors after I miscarried) was out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday, so she did not get to deliver my baby. :( But with a c-section, its pretty impersonal to begin with, so I was okay with it. They got me into the OR pretty quickly and Andrew was born at 1:28pm. He came out squawking and beet red, but the minute they put him next to me and I stroked his cheek, he calmed right down. And that's the way he's been ever since. He'll get worked up over being hungry or having a dirty diaper, but the minute I put my face next to his and stroke his cheek he's puddy in my hands. Or maybe its the other way around. :)

And that's the story of how Andrew was born.

Here's one of his three-week pictures.