We're adults. When did this happen, and how do we make it stop?!

Saturday marked my 28th birthday. 28?!?!?! I swear I was just 20. Time seems to be going by way too fast. I love my family, and would not change my life right now for anything, but some days I just wish I could go back into early adulthood. I miss my friends from back then, I miss being able to do what I wanted, when I wanted. Life seemed so much simpler then. As I am writing this, my sweet little Elijah just crawled up and sat next to me giving me that awesome smile that makes me melt....and maybe I don't mind growing up after all. :)

The birth of Elijah

So in 3 months, I will have my second son. I realized that I have never gotten around to writing about The birth of my first son, Elijah. His original due date was February 13, 2008, and was later changed to Feb. 10th. The day came, and went, and after almost 2 weeks of no dilating or ANY signs that he was ready to come, we decided to be induced. My pregnancy had been extremely hard, I was diagnosed with Hyperemesis, which is severe morning sickness. But I will save that topic for my next post! I was tired,not only physically, but emotionally, and was ready for baby to come out!! On February 20th, I was admitted to the hospital and the induction process began. If I had only known the hell I was about to endure, I seriously think I would have stayed pregnant as long as possible!! My plan was to go natural, and I absolutely did not want a c-section. Later that evening, I began having contractions. Not your typical contractions, I was having double contractions, as soon as one would start to stop, another one would come. I never had much of a break between them. What made it even worse was that they were all in my back. I went for as long as I could, and finally decided to get a shot for the pain, to take the edge off. It worked, for about half an hour! I was stuck in bed, because they had to vaginally monitor the baby, So I couldn't walk around (not that I could have anyway!) or take a bath. Because of being so sick from the hyperemesis my ENTIRE pregnancy, I was not physically prepared for an easy labor, let alone one as difficult as what I was having. I Finally, my Dr. begged me to get an epidural, she said I had experienced what natural labor was like already. I really didn't want to do it, I remember thinking, "if this is as bad as it gets, I can do it." But the pain just kept getting worse and worse. I got the epidural and was finally able to sleep for a couple hours. The next problem was that because of the epidural, I could not feel when I was having contractions, and they had had to vaginally monitor me for contractions, but when it came time to push, I could not have the vaginal monitor in. So, the epidural was lowered all the way. I pushed for what seemed like a lifetime, but in reality it was probobly an hour or a little longer. Elijah was starting to become distressed, I was becoming distressed, and he just wasn't coming out! One of the other things I hadn't wanted was an epesiotomy, but those last few minutes it was either having that, or having an emergency c-section. The epesiotomy was the obvious choice. When he came out, I got to see him for a matter of seconds before they rushed him away, he was not responding well, which was very scary! Luckily that didn't last long, and we were finally able to hold him. I could not get over how beautiful he was (and still is!!) Everything I had just endured, all 42 weeks of it, were completely worth it. Elijah was completely healthy, weighing 7lbs 3oz, 21 1/2 inches long, about 2 inches of that were from his cone head, lol. In those first moments I finally had a clear picture of how God loves each and every one of us as His children. It was an amazing realization!