girlfiend

At 12 months the baby is the perfect baby. We won the baby lottery with this kid. He is charming and pleasant and smiley and an all-around good time. Here are some things he likes and things he can do.

He can eat. He loves food and is most proficient at getting it cleanly into his mouth.

He can sign for more food. It is his only “word” thus far and he uses it to ask for more of just about everything he eats.

He can pull himself up. He likes to stand up and bang on surfaces and grin. He’s not yet ready to cruise or walk and that’s fine with me.

He likes to play with the shape sorter and is getting better at getting the right shapes in the right holes. It makes me proud to see him figure it out on his own.

He plays ball pretty well for a baby, throwing the ball to someone and waiting to get it when it’s rolled back.

He will give you something when he’s asked.

My favorite thing that he gives when asked is a kiss. Baby kisses are the best.

He loves his dada and his brother and lights up when they walk into the room.

His entire face crumples and he dissolves into tears when his dada leaves the room he’s just entered. It’s like his heart is breaking from the 3 seconds of loneliness.

He is a very good sleeper when it’s not a Wonder Week and he’s not teething. When the conditions are right he takes regular naps and sleeps through the night. I love him for that.

When he’s not putting them in his mouth he tries to put his shoes on his feet.

He likes to pick up the phone and put it to his ear. If I pick up the phone and say, “T, it’s for you,” and hand it to him he laughs and smiles like he’s won the baby lottery.

He loves cats and dogs and the pig around the corner. Our neighbor who rarely sees the baby came over holding his teeny tiny dog the other day. The baby was thrilled, and kept petting him and cooing. The neighbor said, “He is delighted. Just look at his face. He’s delighted.”

And that describes my baby. He is delighted by the world and he is a delight. We are lucky to have him.

One year ago today I was on my way home from my 39 week OB appointment. She checked my cervix and said, “You’re 3 centimeters and I’m on call. Would you like me to see if I can get this moving along?” The answer was yes, so she stripped my membranes and told me I could either go home or go to labor and delivery. Since I’m a pessimist, I didn’t think anything would come of the stripping of the membranes so I drove home, packed up the stroller, and took the Fiendling to the playground.

The rest of the morning was pretty mellow. I started contracting on the walk up to the playground and called Boyfiend to let him know what was going on. He had locked his keys in the car so I told him I’d drive them to him.  On our way back from the playground the contractions got a bit harder and closer together. I wasn’t positive that it was labor, but I realized I’d be stupid to drive and called B back to ask if he could break into his car. I called my mother in law to see if she could come over and take care of F. She wasn’t home so I left a message.

At home, about 3 hours after my appointment, I was miserable. The contractions were serious and there was no longer any question that I was in labor. I was trying not to let F see that I was pain, but I could barely stand or walk. B was still at work and I hadn’t heard from his mother. I called Mix to see if he could help me if necessary and he was ready and willing.

B called his mom who was babysitting our niece, E,  just a few blocks from our house. She then called me to see how I was doing. I told her I was in labor and needed to get to the hospital. She told me she could come over and get F after E woke up from her nap. I can’t remember if this pissed me off at the time or if it pissed me off later, but at some point I was furious because I was in active labor with contractions three minutes apart and she, just two city blocks away needed to wait until E woke up to help me out.

I called Mix because I was ready to get to the hospital. I did not want to be in the car if contractions got any closer together. I tried to keep F occupied with trains while I was doubled over in pain waiting for B to get his goddamn keys out of his car. He called security to help him out and ended up taking the slim jim from the guy and breaking into his car himself. He got home shortly after Mix got here. Mix got F to my mother-in-law and B took me to the hospital.

My contractions were 1.5 to 2 minutes apart and I was 6 centimeters when we got there. They were kind enough to get me an epidural soon after my arrival and B and I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening just hanging out and watching a Family Guy marathon. My L&D nurse was fantastic and moved me into a vertical position so gravity would be on our side. Without feeling much pain or doing much of anything at all I labored for hours until I was 10 centimeters and the baby was at a O station. The nurse suggested laying on my left side for a bit. It was a good suggestion and shortly afterwards the baby, who had been hanging out on my right side, moved down.  I felt some pressure and the nurse took a look and showed B the baby’s head, ready to come out. She got the doctor and after five minutes of pushing, about 11 hours after my membranes were stripped, my baby boy was born.