Sam is snuggled in his car seat by my side, and Grets is, you guessed it, content as can be with blankie in hand surrounded by stacks of books that never seem to get old. I thought I'd take a few minutes to share about Sam's birth story. I will spare you all the details, though my journal has probably 10 pages of thoughts on the day. I asked Tim to retell how Sam's birth-day went, for sentimental reasons, I suppose. He managed to describe the events in a paragraph, no more, no less. That's why I like him. Back to the story. I woke up around 1am with cramping, so I went into the living room. I had read in one of the um-teen pregnancy books that used to grace our shelves (apologies to anyone else in the world who was trying to check out a book on labor and delivery from the SouthWest library branch in the past 9 months) that often a female animals behavior is to find a dark cozy place and curl up in a ball when it was almost time for having the baby (or babies). I guess that came to mind as I was curled up on the couch. Now it all made sense (sort of). Around 2am (though Tim thought it was 3...lets go with halfsies...at around 2:30...) I went back into our room to get a heating pad, and woke Tim up, sort of by accident. He asked if I was ok, in a tone a bit more concerned than when he would ask any other time. Up until now, I have been trying to tell myself these were just minor contractions, hardly noteworthy. Before Gretta was born, we got to the hospital only to be sent home a few hours later because it wasnt time. Tim knew this time was it and called the hospital to let them know we were on our way. He also called my mom to come and watch Gretta. Contractions were a steady 1-2 minutes apart according to Tim's Motorola phone clock. I packed the remaining essentials in between contractions, and Tim loaded the dishwasher. Mom arrived around 4, and we ended up at the hospital around 4:45. We left the car at the entrance (running), trying to get to our room AFAP. Our doctor showed up in the nick of time (a great relief to our poor nurse who did not try to hide the fact that she did not want to be the one to deliver this baby). After just a few pushes, Samuel was born into this world at 5:30 am. So much for the cd of hand picked soothing songs, birth ball, prego pops and pages of verses printed out. They all remained nicely packed in the car; maybe for another time. Now we are slowly adjusting to another little person living with us... more diapers to change, more sleepless nights, and more laundry; more snuggles, more patience, and more grace from the Lord who has richly blessed us with a beautiful son.
