Life will never be normal again, and I’m happy about it.

My son has arrived, and he’s more perfect then I could have expected, anticipated, or hoped for. I’m so madly in love. I know every parent feels the same way; the sacrificing of self becomes a new concept where the term ‘sacrifice’ has changed completely. Sacrifice is no longer something of loss, but a way in which you gain more than imaginable. I think that unless you’ve experienced this, it’s a hard concept to understand. At least, I don’t think I truly understood the idea of ‘sacrificial love’ before now. All of this, to simply state that I’m giddy with love and my heart is very full.

WARNING: If you do not wish to read a very G rated account of labour, please STOP reading here.

As for labour, for 9 months I watched programming like TLC’s Bringing Home Baby and their other similar programs to prepare myself for the torture and horridness that would be labour. Then, I pushed all of it out of my mind and refused to think too much about the process that I’d eventually go through for fear of panicking when labour did begin. I woke my husband at 5:30am told him to get ready, around 6:30am we arrived at the local hospital where my dr was called in to confirm if I was truly in labour. Once she confirmed that I was dilated 3cm, we set out for the hospital where I would give birth (about 30min drive away).
I insisted that we stop at McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich, since I was unsure if they would let me eat once I arrived at the hospital or not. Since I wasn’t in much pain and was only 3cm shortly before when we arrived at the hospital, we were told that the Dr would see us after the shift change. Although, labour was progressing extremely fast.
The pains came, and came, and came; before I was officially admitted to the hospital they were preparing to take me into the delivery room. Before the delivery room was prepped, I was ready to push. A short while later (well, two hours of pushing), my son was howling and I was a proud but tired mamma. I was literally expecting to spend around 18 hours or so walking around the hospital, crying and breathing my contractions away. While labour was fast and many of you reading this may have had terrible hour after hour breathing through contractions, I promise that recovery isn’t different at all.
Also an interesting bit of info for those who’ve heard that kidney stones and labour pains are very much the same (from someone who’s experienced both); the contractions do remarkably feel like a kidney stone, although the similarity ends at the stage where one has to start pushing.

I’ve finally reopened my shop, and hope that the unpacking of house continues at such a rate that I can quickly get my ‘studio’ set up and back into the swing of sewing. I’m really itching to get at it, and luckily Benjamin is a great sleeper (so far).