4.25.10

Okay, things have been pretty much absolutely insane and sometimes heartbreaking lately, so I wanted to get my birth story out in phases. To write it all at one borrowed computer sitting is a little daunting. But I am quite curious who that one person was that didn't want to hear it. To that one person, my apologies. But to the rest of you, here it is. The story of Smith's birth.

I don't remember everything about birth. The older he gets, the harder it is to remember the exhaustion and the anticipation. I vaguely remember the pain. I don't remember mustering up all my strength to look over at Cole as he kissed me gently on my forehead. I don't remember my first thoughts when they placed him immediately on my chest. There were some things caught on camera that I had to be told about. But I do remember most of it, and I'll never forget how it started.

We woke up Saturday feeling adventurous. We went on a long bike ride to a house that we loved, then meandered in and out of charming neighborhoods, picking which house we would move into if it was gifted to us. We found one just like Whit's favorite on Father of the Bride and I made a mental note to bring her back here to see it. We imagined what our future home and family would be like.

I remember the weather was beautiful and being with Cole on a bike ride guaranteed the perfect day.

The ride was followed by meeting our sweet Castle for the first time. I remember wondering if I would look as beautiful as Lindsey did after having a baby. I then rushed off to lunch with my sweet cousin Amy, where I felt my first REAL contractions. And oh boy do I mean real ones. The meal and the company were an absolute delight, so the discomfort was easy to ignore. At the end of the meal they stopped, so Cole and I went to a baptism after lunch and called it a day. We cleaned up the house and relaxed, and I remembered being ecstatic to hop in between the sheets and sack out.

My comfort was short lived, however, because my contractions started up again.

Tiffany, my mom, and Whitney were taking shifts helping Lindsey recover, and had not slept for days, so I hesitated to call so they could sleep. When I saw some blood though, I realized it was worth a wake up call.

My mom answered and said, "well, looks like you're having a baby tonight!" I remember thinking, Whoa mom, don't jump the gun here....its just a little blood. Tiffany told me we still had some time, so to try to get some sleep.

Yeah right.