it's been a long time away from social media and the blogosphere. i have to admit, it's been wonderful being able to sit and enjoy time with family and friends without worrying about having to document every single moment the second it happens. but, i'm back! and in being back, i will be posting a four post series reflecting liam's birth, his first year of life, documenting his first birthday, and what we have learned over the past year. enjoy!
on november 17th, john, liam and i flew home to washington state to have an early thanksgiving dinner and to have a party for liam's first birthday. it was an amazing vacation filled with feeding animals at the cider mill, photo sessions, christmas tree shopping, crazy uno, and so much more. i wish that we lived closer, but the two and a half weeks we spent in washington was a wonderful and memory-filled vacation.
one particular day had the most significance to me, and that was november 22nd, 2014.
on the morning of liam's birthday, i woke up with excitement. i looked at my phone to check the time.
"8:54".
8:54 AM washington time, 10:54 AM chicago time.
with tears in my eyes, i took a deep breath in and whooshed back to that hospital room in chicago. exactly one year from that moment was when our little boy came into the world. i think back to the time when i started having contractions at the midnight hour on november 22nd. i remember feeling my first contraction and wondering...could this be it? is it really time? after eleven hours of labor, our sweet baby boy came into the world and changed our lives forever.
(to read more of that story, check it out here.)
i will never, ever forget that morning.
the contractions, the pushing, the exhaustion, the pain, the tears, the smiles, the happiness, the kisses, the pure bliss of gazing into the eyes of our newborn son; it was all a roller coaster, a whirlwind of change. after a matter of months, weeks, days and hours, the moment finally came for us. we were parents, and this perfect, little baby was now ours.
in addition to all of the beautiful things that happened that morning- the labor, the pushing, and holding liam for the first time, i also had an experience that i will forever be eternally grateful for that i've never shared before.
after moving to chicago last year, we were able to spend one of our first days there with my amazing brothers-in-law brent and steve to celebrate the 4th of july. in addition, we were able to meet steve's brother nick and his wife, shamis. after becoming acquainted, shamis told me that she was also pregnant and due just two weeks after me. they were going to have a little baby girl. after spending time and talking with her that night, i knew that shamis and i were going to be best friends.
over the long months of our pregnancies, shamis and i would text each other constantly asking questions, asking how we were feeling, etc. it was so awesome having another soon-to-be mother to bounce questions/advice off of, and go do baby registries together. and lucky for me, shamis was a nurse at the hospital that we were going to deliver at, so she had all of the medical questions covered as well. living in a different place from your family for a long period of time definitely weighs hard on your heart and mind, especially being the only one away from home. but looking back, i could not have survived without shamis's friendship, love, and laughs! so, so grateful for her.
after all of the excitement of labor and liam's birth, we got cleaned up and moved to our recovery room. after settling into our room, i sat still for a moment and looked around. glancing at my sweet and exhausted husband sleeping on the small guest bed, and staring at our swaddled little angel, i couldn't believe what had just happened. we were now a family of three. i sat there in exhaustion hoping to catch some shut-eye, but not wanting to miss a moment.
as i sat there, i felt a slight ping of sadness, almost of loneliness. who was going to come and relish this moment with us? who was going to come and visit and hug me and hold our brand new bundle of joy? the distance between us and family seemed so huge and monumental at that moment. in all of my exhaustion, i yearned for my family to be there to soak in that perfect moment with me! knowing this was an obvious impossibility, i shrugged it off and allowed myself to close my eyes and get some much needed sleep.
after sleeping for what only seemed like a moment, i heard a light "knock knock" on our room door. without having my contacts in or glasses on, i couldn't see who had opened the door.
"who is it?", i said hazily.
i reached for my glasses, put them on, and lo and behold- in walked my dear, sweet friend shamis. she was standing in the doorway carrying a gift bag and a huge smile on her face.
i will never forget that moment. my small, unspoken prayer of having a visitor was answered.
she came and hugged me, hugged john and gazed at our little boy sleeping in his bassinet. she brought us food, and a sweet gift of a bath hammock and a portable diaper changing bag. i could've kissed her at that moment! she was like an angel.
we hadn't been in touch with anyone except our families that day, and shamis had been texting me asking me where i was, if i was in labor, etc. and being the awesome person that she is, she looked us up in the hospital system and saw that we were checked into the hospital! with this knowledge, she came and sneakily surprised us. she was the first person to see liam in person before anyone else, and i don't think she'll ever know how much that meant to me. thank you, shamis. thank you for this sweet memory that i will cherish forever.
after that day, our friendship continued to blossom. shamis gave birth to their sweet baby girl a few weeks later, and from then on, we had a play date almost every day. we exchanged date nights, babysitting, and watched our little kiddos grow together to be best friends. i'm so sad that we are so far away from them now, but i know that we will be reunited again soon, and that it'll be like we never were apart. plus, maya and liam have an arranged marriage, so we will be seeing more of them our whole lives! hope you guys don't mind! ;)
on that day of liam's birth, we had another sweet experience that i will always remember.
initially, my mother wasn't going to come until the 25th of november. at that point, we would've been home and out of the hospital. much to our excitement and surprise, my mom was able to switch her flight and came the day after liam was born! when i got this news, i cried tears of exhausted joy. i was so thankful and happy for her willingness to take time out of her extremely busy life to help us take care of our little boy. plus, next-day tickets are not cheap! her sacrifice was huge in my book.
i will never forget the moment when i saw my mom walk into our recovery room. she was all bundled up in her green wool coat, shivering from the bitter chicago winter air. a huge smile was on both of our faces, and we gave each other a warm hug. she was now a grandmother! she immediately grabbed our baby boy, kissed his forehead, and sang lullabies to him. i am so grateful for a mother that is so nurturing and loving, and from her example has taught me to be the same type of mother. if i'm even half of the mother she has been to me, i will be happy. i love you, my sweet angel mother.
with little sleep, hospital get-us-oughtta-here fever and a brand new baby in tow, we headed home from the hospital ready to start on the journey called parenthood. we had no idea what to expect, but our hearts were filled with gratitude for this perfect child entrusted to us, and we were going to do our very best.
stay tuned for post #2: a reflection of liam's first year life.
No comments:
Post a Comment