Day 29 - { Fluffy }

During my time of nausea and general green haze I started several posts I didn't finish before our trip. My sister Mandy says I should still post them, so I think I will. Here's one that I wrote for Fluffy's birthday back on May 17. . . .

Eight years ago today, my second son was born. I looked into his eyes, and was startled to remember him, and to sense that he remembered me! We recognized each other! It was a deeply precious moment that I will never forget.

If you like reading birth stories, here ya go, the G-rated version! If not (and I completely understand!), skip down to the next picture and beyond.

Fluffy was born during our student days in Tallahassee, FL. He was 15 days late, because I was adamant about trying to do a VBAC delivery. I was GINORMOUS, by far the biggest I have ever been or ever hope to be. (I thought about putting a picture here, but it seemed more fit for a tabloid magazine :).

I had taken Bradley classes again, and arranged for a doula to assist me in labor. I visualized the whole process going just how it should, free of any superfluous medical involvement.  But his due date came and went, and my "practice" contractions were weakening and slowing instead of increasing. It became apparent we would have to induce. (sidenote: have you ever had the experience of attending church on Mother's day two weeks past your due date? People say the worst things! I'd never been so close to committing violence in an LDS chapel).

On the morning of May 17, 2001, they hooked up my "walking" pitocin, and DC and I (and the ever-present doula) started out on a walk around the hospital wing. We were so ready for this! Not fifteen minutes later the doctor called us back into the room and told me he had a really bad feeling about letting me do this. He said with how large the baby appeared to be and with my previous C-section, I was running a very high risk with the baby's life and possibly my own. Was the risk worth having a "better" delivery?

Have you ever had the experience of the Spirit telling you something you had hoped not to hear? This was one of those times. Even though I so desperately did not want to repeat the C-section experience, I could feel that peaceful, strong knowledge in my heart and in my mind telling me that the doctor was right and I should proceed with a surgical birth. I tearfully asked the doctor if my mom could be in there with me, and he agreed. We then requested some private time for a Priesthood blessing (this was given just after all the surgical prep and before my mom arrived).

Not more than a half-hour later, Fluffy came beautifully screaming into the world. The first words he was privileged to hear (from the assisting doctor): "Call Bobby Bowden! This one's huge!" And he was-- 9 pounds, 3 ounces. (My next biggest baby was Hummer, at 7 pounds, 10 ounces).

My poor doula was reduced to feeding me ice chips in the post-op recovery room instead of heroically coaching me through the transition phase.

But I was in heaven. As they wheeled me to my room, we passed the NICU and realizing that this could have turned out very differently, I said heartfelt prayers of gratitude that he had arrived safely.

 

Fluffy brought so much sunshine into our home. From the very beginning, we could see that he has a peaceful, affectionate spirit. He has always had a radiant smile, which combined with those light sky-blue eyes, is just gorgeous.

 

I am grateful for his unconditional hugs. Even when I have recently reprimanded him, he is ALWAYS quick to offer a hug. And I don't think he can go to sleep unless I have hugged and kissed him first. :)

 

He has a brilliant mind, but doesn't seem like it because of absent-mindedness. He could count backwards from 100 to 1 when he was three. Yet he still forgets to flush sometimes. (I suppose that's normal?)

 

That's all I wrote, but there are many other things I could expound on: his zany sense of humor, his ability to play with words, his already-firm testimony of the Book of Mormon through his own experience of reading it and praying. He is one awesome young man! I am so grateful Heavenly Father chose me to be his mother.

I love you, Fluffy!