Since we married so quickly (only after getting together for two months), we decided to take a couple of years to practice being a couple before we became parents.
While it was nice to have so much alone time with my new hubby, that was also a really challenging time for me though, because as soon as we were married, something switched over in my brain, and I wanted children. Not like 'It sure would be nice to have kids' wanting kids, but 'omgosh but I'm gonna die if I don't have children!' wanting kids.
I felt like I could sense how badly they wanted to be born...like they were knocking on my head saying, 'C'mon Mom! We're here! What's the holdup?'
Since I was using Depo Provera at the time (and HATED every second of it - the hip shots, the weight gain, everything), we stopped using it about six months before our honeymoon to let the hormones work their way out of my system.
After the honeymoon, guess what? Our first baby was on the way. My period stopped (which it never does), and we took the test and voila!
How many children did you have all together?
We have four loverly children in total.
Who was the first, and what was the birth story?
My oldest son was born in December 1995. I started into labor with him in the car, waiting for Sam to get some money to go get some Taco Bell food for dinner. All of a sudden, sitting became impossible. I spent the whole time at Taco Bell in the bathroom, and then we ate dinner, and then I spent more time in the bathroom.
Then we called the Micky the midwife (we were planning on giving birth at a freestanding birth center instead of the hospital, since I generally hate hospitals) and told her the contractions were five minutes apart. She sounded unsure, but told us to come in and we'd get checked out.
We called our childbirth teacher Pam, who'd also agreed to act as a doula for us, and she said she would meet us there. This was about 9PM. My mother drove us in her work van, with me hanging over the back of the seat somehow wrapped in a seatbelt, since I couldn't sit, sipping Coke for energy. When we got inside, I couldn't go up the stairs to the labor room, because of my labor (ironically).
When I got up there between contractions, Micky examined me and I was seven inches dilated - almost ready to push. I went to the bathroom - and promptly vomited on the wall and my husband. My body did NOT want Taco Bell at that moment. Too much going on. It was an embarrassing mess, but I couldn't help clean it up. The contractions were coming faster.
After another hour or so, we had a baby boy at 2AM! My first baby was a speedster - beginning to end, he clocked in at only five hours of labor. He was purple and hairy and squalling - not a happy camper. He also barely looked human - I almost didn't know what to do with him, not being a very maternal person by nature. But my mother and everyone said how cute he was. Snowflakes started drifting down right after he was born. We named him David, after his father's middle name, and MackinTosh after the Scottish side of our family (NOT the apple).
We slept for a few hours, and then woke to a full-blown snowstorm that turned out to be one of those epic, once every ten years kind of storms. We barely got the baby home before we were totally snowed in, but we were happy. Sam made us an igloo in the front yard.
I dutifully took care of him for a little while, but I didn't feel much for him at first. He was just this weird little lumpy baby that somehow came out of me and I survived it, and there were some many details and doctors that I couldn't think much about it after that.
After two days, I looked down at this adorable little baby boy sleeping in his crib, and my mother bear switched on. I would give my life for this kid. I would kill for him if I had to, and in my dreams, I did, over and over again. From that point on, I was a mommy. Love that oxytocin.
And I couldn't stand the thought of Taco Bell food for at least two years after that.
That close relationship has continued over the years, particularly with this one. Very close. We both share the same introversion, the same faith, even some of the same talents. We're both writers, and we collaborate together sometimes. If he had his choice, he would buy the house next door to us and raise his own family right there. Whether or not he'll get that opportunity remains to be seen, but even if he doesn't, I still love him to pieces, just like I did back then.
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