Flashback Friday: 8 hours into my first labor

With last weeks missed flashback, and awesome trip to the hospital (heavy on the sarcasm there), this week I wanted to post something birth/baby related.

This morning as I was standing in the kitchen, taking a minute to catch my breath after returning home from a long walk and trip to the park- a video flashed across the main computer screen (our screen saver is photos and videos), and I had to laugh. This video is horrible. So I guess... its kind of perfect?

Never in a million years did I think I'd ever share this video with anybody other than my own family, but- well what have I got to lose (outside of some of the best readers ever)?

A little background info. Let me set the scene for you.

**It was August 16th, 2006. Four years ago. I was scheduled to be induced two days later, but my water broke in the midst of a "stay up all night tonight, and sleep all day tomorrow, so I'll be well rested for my labor" power-through, and well... things started to get ugly.

About 6 or 8 hours into my labor, I hadn't yet had an epidural (I didn't get that until 12 hrs in), but I was exhausted, and miserable. So, they came and pumped my IV full of Demerol, after at least two hours of begging. Little did I know, this would make me completely insane, loopy, and about 5 seconds after Christopher turned off the camera (too bad he didn't keep filming), I erupted into a psycho fit of laughter, and then passed out for the next hour or longer, waking only to laugh.

I ended up laboring for 20 hours, without any progression, so I had a semi emergency c-section, and that was that.

This is me. 70 pounds heavier, 4 years younger, drugged up, talking about ice tubes. Enjoy...

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Join us for a Flashback, won't you? We're here, every Friday, digging into treasured memories of our past, and sharing them with each other. Grab a picture of your own, write a little blurb to go with it, and then come back here and post your link on the list below. Don't forget to grab our button (wayyyy down there at the bottom of our page), or type out a text link, linking your readers here to discover the time travels of others as well :)

Wordless Wednesday- Tonka Loves Brownie

(I don't think I've ever participated in Wordless Wednesday, but I like the idea of it. Only... if a picture is worth 1,000 words, and I take 50 pictures- well my Wordless Wednesdays aren't going to be so Wordless, are they? Should I call this Not So Wordless Wednesday, then? Or what if I just hide my words in these sneaky parentheses, does that do the trick? Right? Know what I mean?)


(See? How can I let a face like that go without a caption.)

(A few days weeks ago- actually... it was a month ago now- the babies and I went outside for a nice morning play date in the front yard. I brought out Charlie's trucks, cars, and trains, for us to drive along the concrete. Those are things that Eleanore likes too, so it wasn't as if she was without. Plus, she always has her imaginary friends by her side, Piglet and Donkey- I didn't feel guilty about the lack of ribbons and bows in attendance.)

(Soon the air started warming up, and our tummies started grumbling. I had just made a fresh batch of banana sweetened brownies earlier that morning, so we packed up the trucks and trains, and headed inside for a snack. Or... well at least I thought we packed them all up...)



(Mr. Charlie seemed to have snuck one away somewhere, and when I lifted him into his high chair, I somehow still missed seeing it there in his hand. I went into the kitchen, brought back a plate of brownies- a solid one for Elie, and cut up bites for Charlie. I served the princess hers, and then slid the bits and pieces leftover onto the high Chair tray. Still... I didn't see the red Tonka.)



(And then like a low hum coming from I-wasn't-sure-where, I started to hear a blurry "vroom vroom". Not the actual sound, the way it would sound coming from an actual engine, but more like, one of the babies was making that sound with their mouth?)



(Oh. I see now.)

(Little Charlie by this point, had completely demolished his brownie. He had driven his red Tonka through every speck of moist chocolate available to Tonka's tires. He was having a great time, by the way, driving Tonka back and forth back and forth, vroom vroom'ing up a sugary storm. Who needs to actually eat their snack, when instead you can turn it into a racetrack?)

(And I have to admit, I was kind of proud of him. Brownies are dark in color, the way dirt is. And big trucks drive on dirt, right? And... wow. Having a little boy is so much different than having a little girl. This was the exact moment that it dawned on me.)



(Sticky little fingers, guilty as charged.)



(Oh go on, have your fun. Play in the dirt all you want. How could I say no to a face like that? Make monster sized tracks all over that tray. You couldn't possibly be any cuter.)



(So this is what being the Mother to a little boy is all about.)

(And I'm sure this is just the beginning
*said with an honest to God smile*.)