My sister is pregnant and is in the ‘get the baby out” stage, or maybe it is the “I think i changed my mind. I don’t really want to have this baby” stage. Either way, i was thinking that after bombarding her labor stories, which can be kind of scary, I would write about a good/fond memory of labor/childbirth/the aftermath.
With Rollie, my best memories are:
When I first had him, they had the specialists to come in and suction him, since he was not breathing well, and then they let me hold him for a second before taking him to the transitional nursery. I had him for maybe ten seconds, not enough to even take it all in, but my mom was in the room by that point, and she got to see me hold him for the first time. And I got to see her face when I told her that he was named for her father and brother. Now that I have kids, that means more to me than I thought; I can only imagine that looking down at one of my kids and seeing them holding their newborn will really do a number on me, and even if Mom is not around anymore, that memory will be pretty special, and really she will be there, because I will undoubtedly think of her standing down looking at me, her first baby, holding my first baby.
The day I brought him home from the hospital was humid and rainy, but when we pulled into the drive, I got out, and carried Rollie in his carrier onto the porch. my mom came out and while Todd unloaded some stuff, Mom and i stood on the porch with the baby, and we looked up, and the rain had stopped, the sun poked through, and we saw the biggest, most beautiful rainbow ever.
Introducing Rollie to Quint (the dog). I sat on the bottom stair and had Rollie in my arms and we let Quint in and he bounded over to see me, and nuzzled Rollie gently, smelling him. And then Rollie let out a big cooing/crying sound and Quint jumped straight up in the air like a cat, and ran and hid behind the couch.
The first time Lisa changed Rollie’s diaper, he peed in her face. That image never gets old.
Tiller:
Having a great labor experience and her coming into the world almost on the dot of midnight, and being healthy, and getting to hold her and have Todd there, and they didn’t take her away from me and it was just wonderful.
McDonald’s, rather than crappy hospital food, after her birth. It was one of the best meals i have ever eaten. The second time around, i knew that I could get takeout menus from the nurses station, and I knew to send baby to the nursery while i ate and not freak out about it, and pretty much the whole hospital experience was like a vacay.
Rollie came to the hospital to meet Tiller and he was totally unimpressed with her – all he wanted was my milkshake, so he climbed up in the hospital bed with me, and we shared my milkshake and watched cartoons, and I was so relieved, because I realized that my heart really did have enough room for two.
We had Tiller on a Saturday, but had gone into the hospital on a friday afternoon, and so the first day she was in the world, we sat around in the room and had football to watch all day! It was awesome, and i loved watching Todd, his dad, Rollie, and Tiller sitting in my hospital room and watching football together. I loved watching UGA beat the vols that afternoon, with Tiller in my arms asleep.
My Dad falling asleep in the room, with Tiller in his arms.
