FFF: Happy Mother's Day!

This week's FFF theme is Mommy, and it only seemed fitting for me to take a little stroll down memory lane ... to the day I "labored" my beautiful girl into this world!

Not sure I would say this is the day I became a mommy, but the photos bring back truly wonderful memories and they certainly evoke some strong mommy emotions. It's amazing how the human mind just blocks out the pain. Guessing that's the best way to ensure mommy's will do it again, huh?!

Anyway, I can really only remember JOY ... and that stupid IV in my hand was driving me crazy ... and I was really, really hot - hotter than I had ever been in my life. Most of that four and a half hours of my life are such a blur; other moments are so crystal clear.

Be sure to head over to Kiss the Frog 4 Me to see more of this week's great Mommy photos.

If you're interested in more of my labor story, this is from the journal I kept of Natalie's first year:

Your Birthday

At about 8:00 pm on July 14th, I was in the loft above our garage when my water broke - what a surprise! With a bit of panic in my voice, I yelled to your dad - he was in his workshop - “Babe, my water just broke!” As I expected, he was shocked but also calm, and he immediately came up with a plan. Call the doctor, take showers, and pack a bag. So that’s just what we did. While I showered, daddy started putting all kinds of things in a suitcase - books, CD’s, clothes, snacks, … none of which we needed, but I’ll get to that. And then while daddy showered, I called your Auntie Heather and our friend Liza; it was so good to hear the voices of friends who had been through this before. I must admit, I was getting a little nervous at this point.

In the car on the way to the hospital, I called Grammy to tell her the exciting news, and that's when it really hit me ... "I'm having a baby!" I started to cry - tears of both happiness and nervousness. I was about to become a mom and talking to my own mom gave me a sense of calm. Grammy was very surprised and a little sad; she was disappointed that you were early and she wasn't here to go to the hospital with us.

I had 5 hard contractions on the way to the hospital; to be honest, they didn't hurt as much as I expected.

We didn't really hurry to the hospital because we assumed that many hours would pass before you actually arrived. That's why daddy packed so much stuff! But it ended up that he barely set our suitcase down before "things got interesting" and a very short time later you were born.

To my shock and surprise, I was already dilated 7 centimeters; more than halfway to being ready to push! The nurses asked me if I wanted something for the pain - an epidural - but I looked at your daddy, which made me feel very brave, and decided to give birth naturally.

Doctor M arrived at about 11:00 pm. I pushed until 12:36am on July 15, 2007.

Those first few minutes after you were born are kind of a blur for me. I look back at the pictures that daddy took, and I am so glad to have them. He really captured the excitement and chaos ...