Braggin' Rights

My sister, Amanda Sue, has always been one of my heroes. After being blessed and honored to be part of her birthing process with Dillon, I am just in complete awe of her strength of character, mind and body.

Amanda was in labor for 8 loooooooong hours with NO pain medication. Um, I would've begged for that epidural at the first grunt.

She would crack jokes in between contractions in the beginning, but once the jokes wore off, I knew she was getting exhausted. She's a wee bit stubborn (I know, shocking) and finally gave in to what her doc had been saying all along: An epidural will help make labor more enjoyable. You scoff at the "enjoyable labor" idea, don't you?

She got the epidural when dialated to nearly 8cm. The jokes returned, the sass continued and Amanda's labor adventure began to be enjoyable. At least it was enjoyable for me, Daniel, the nurses and the doctor.

At one point, after the epi had started its magic, she began to grunt and breathe heavily. We all panicked, looking quickly to the monitor with confusion. Yeah, she was kidding. Not the last time she'd fake pain for a giggle, either.

Finally, the pushing began at 9pm. She'd been in labor for about 13 hours at this point.

So things were going along smoothly with the pushing, the timing and help from the nurse. Then, she left! YES she did. Daniel and I looked at each other a little bewildered. We have to help Amanda push and very possibly deliver if for some unforeseen reason a nurse couldn't get there in time for him to shoot out and bungee off the birthing table?? The nurse had assured us that wouldn't happen, but isn't there a first time for everything?!

For some reason it all became hilarious. Maybe because we felt inept. Or because we looked ridiculous holding Amanda's legs, attempting to read the monitor for when it was time to push, forgetting to count, Amanda yelling while heavy breathing that we were slacking on the job of counting and all of us laughing intermittently. I imagine the nurses had a hidden camera and were getting a good laugh at the two stooges. The nurse was not even gone 10 minutes but it felt like an hour. It was definitely a bonding experience for the three of us.

Amanda and Dillon were pretty exhausted come 11pm. It was then decided to go ahead with a c-section. I think Amanda was pretty sad at first that she had to do it, but she was also so tired and ready for her child to get OUT, she went for it. She has a very stubborn baby who was apparently going to have to be evicted because after two hours of pushing, he had barely budged.

Adorable Dillon was born at 11:53pm, right before a new day began, just as the doctor promised. At 8 lbs 11 and 3/4 ounces and 21 inches long, we all could understand a little better why his living quarters on Amanda's right side could no longer accommodate!

Dillon is a beautiful, sweet little boy who looks just like his daddy. I could not be more proud of Amanda. She's already a wonderful new mommy who's face lights up when she sees her little angel. My brother-in-law is floating around these days, obviously enamored with his son and amazing wife.

Thank you, little sister, for allowing me to be a part of such a miracle day. I love you!

Penny for her thoughts

I have often wondered when a baby begins to organize thoughts and how simple they must be until they develop into "talking" thoughts like we have. You know, where you can carry a conversation in your head. C'mon...YOU KNOW.

Anyway, today Isabella was playing with an old phone, holding it behind her neck like most babies do, chatting away. I'm positive she's learned to do this from watching her dad and I talk on the phone, but she would chatter...pause...ahahahaha...chatter some more...pause...ahahaha (as if she heard a good joke)...pause...chatter and laugh some more. It was hilarious! You would think she was honestly talking and listening to another person!

I don't know how they'd do it but if scientists could ever find out what or when logical thoughts form in a child's head, I would love to know about it. Babies mimic everything in the beginning, but at some point they are seriously having their own talking thoughts. Just hope they are sweet ones and not plotting how best to "accidentally" order things online using daddy's credit card. Though that could be a good excuse for me....