Whoops!

We had Marc's best friend and his wife over last night. They're expecting their first baby in only 9 weeks! They're starting to get a bit nervous (!!) over the whole thing -- being parents, not being just the two of them anymore, the major life change, the birth, etc. You know, the usual. Marc and I were telling them that they didn't need to worry, that they'd be great parents. We also told them how inept we were when we had Madeline. I asked the nurse as I was putting Madeline in her "going home from the hospital" outfit if I was putting on her onesie right. And the nurse looked at me like I was crazy and unfit because I wasn't sure even how to get her dressed. When Madeline had her first sponge bath, I was holding her and washing her, etc. all the while flipping through a book that showed how to wash your baby and how to dry your baby. "Luckily" both of these events have been captured on video. Yes, you even hear me tell Marc that "there's a drying off baby page" in the book, and maybe he should turn to it. Our kids will know how clueless we were when we first had them, yet we made it through the baby stage quite well, if I do say so myself. We have yet to see if we're successful through the toddler years.

So, I was doing my best to tell our friends that they would be great, because Marc and I didn't have a clue when we had Madeline. And then the topic of childbirth came up. I LOVE childbirth. I LOVE being in the hospital (even with a bum full of stitches). I LOVE the first few moments and days of getting to know the newest member of the family. Even with all of the pain and tiredness and nervousness that goes along with it, being in the hospital having our kids are hands down the best times of my life. Everytime one of my friends is about 38-39 weeks pregnant, I get insanely jealous and wish I could be in their place, because they're going to get to give birth in a few weeks. I drove by the hospital in PA about a month or two after Luke was born for the first time since I had given birth and I just stared at it, got tears in my eyes, wanting to be in there, and jealous of all of the women who were giving birth at that very moment in that very hospital. People find me extremely strange for my love of childbirth. Now, I still get scared and nervous a week or two before the event, and it still hurts to get it out (obviously!), but I love it -- although I have not and probably will never say that as one of my children is crowning. But give me a day and I won't be averse to doing it again, give me a week (seriously, that's all it took after having Luke) and I'm jealous of the women in labour on A Baby Story.

So, I was regaling Marc's friends with stories of Madeline's birth. 24 hours of labour. 2.5 hours of pushing. A head with a circumference 5 inches shorter than the length of her body (ya, 15.5 inch circumference -- get a tape measure, then you'll realize why it took 2.5 hours to get it out). The hour long session in the OR getting "repaired" after pushing that Vanderhead out. And numerous other details that I love sharing, but which would be a bit too graphic for your average VanderMeander reader. I don't know what I was thinking! These people were already nervous about the whole baby thing. They will in a hospital giving birth in 9 weeks. And I felt the need to tell them about all of the unpleasantness of birth and the early days of breastfeeding! And then Marc said, "Why are you telling them this?" And I thought, "I don't know". Because I love to talk about it. Because, I was trying to say, as hard as it was and as uncomfortable as it was to hardly be able to walk for 2 weeks, it was still one of the happiest memories of my life. But... ya, I don't think it really "helped".