5 years ago

Five years old!
Five.
How much has your life changed in 5 years?

I can hardly believe my boy is 5.

If my life changes as much in the next 5 years as it has in the past 5 - I cannot even fathom what my life will be like, where I will be, and what I will be doing.

5 years ago my life changed forever with the birth of a 6lb 15 oz boy that never made a sound upon his arrival.



Every mum dreams of that momentous moment, when the wriggling mass that has caused 9 months of sleepless nights, nausea, and done olympic worthy gymnastics in utero finally emerges with a triumphant squeal, signalling that first drawn breath. But not my boy - Oh no.

For starters - lets have my doctor decide to be on vacation during my due date. I told him this was unacceptable, only half joking, but he assured me I would be the first one to be induced when he got back - May 10th!
On April 18th, I went in for my 38wk appt - the day before doc was going on holidays. He assured me that I had at least another 2 weeks - probably 3 to go, but upon 'checking' found me to be 4 cm dialated, and my water on the verge of breaking.
"Looks like you're having a baby tonight" he calmly stated.
I didn't - I went to bed with nary a contraction or a hint of pain, and waited patiently for the boy to make his exit plans known.
Didn't have to wait long, as he chose 2:30am to begin vacating his comfy domain. At first it wasn't anything major - enough for me to sleep through them, but by 5:30, I began to believe that the child might actually come out.
I emailed my sister in Africa to tell her that labour had started, and woke up my husband to tell him those famous words "I think this is it!"
I won't bore you with what transpired over the next 10 hours, but suffice it to say, it hurt - a lot, and the epidural guy was my best friend when he finally let that sweet numbness take over the bottom half of my body.

Like any first time expectant parents - we had given thought to what our offspring might look like, but nothing really prepares you for the moment when you first lay eyes on them.
Our sweet little bundle decided to get turned around, and arrived face up, about 2 hours AFTER the epidural had worn off.
I made a 50$ bet with the nurse that I would have the baby before 5:00pm - she had been saying for the last hour "just one more push and you're done" but that baby did NOT want to come out - I finally had to make the bet, because I knew my own frugal self would force the child out in a desperate bid to save 50 bucks!
We became the parents of a baby boy at 4:56pm - born face up, eyes open, battered, bruised, cut and bleeding from a traumatic delivery, and perfectly silent.
My first glimpse of my grey limp baby was in an isolette with an oxygen mask over his face, and a nurse tugging his arms and legs saying "c'mon baby".
He sputtered a gaspy wheezy whimper, and my tears poured forth in relief - we had made it.
19.5" and 6lbs 15 oz of the most beautiful wrinkled thing I'd ever laid eyes on. He had the appearance of a an old man, but I was in love, and it's only grown over the last 5 years.
Duncan at 1 day old

We've added two more siblings, moved twice and had 4 different vehicles since then. What a wild and crazy 5 years it's been.
I'd do it all over again - but don't expect me to have 6 kids 5 years from now - that's just not going to happen!

Happy Birthday Duncan