My first picture (25 years ago)

My dad, me and my mom after she squeezed me out with no drugs (yay Mom!)

It's my birthday, so I wanted to share the first picture of me and my parents. Their previous baby (my brother Paul) had been born 15 years prior, so a lot had changed. My mom had two rather oppressive births with my brothers, but for this one she was prepared. She and my dad took Lamaze classes and he was really involved in the birth for the first time. Afraid of developing gestational diabetes, she ate no sweets the entire pregnancy except for one slice of coconut cake. She insisted on delivering me drug-free because she wanted to be awake and aware when I arrived. For my brothers, a nurse just came in and said "we're going to give you something to dry up your milk," but she breastfed me. When the nurses tried to take me away (for tests and things) she firmly insisted I would be staying with her. She recognized, as so many women don't, that I was her baby and she was in charge, even in the hospital.

In a few weeks we'll be having our second daughter and I hope I experience this same night-and-day difference. We are certainly set up to have an awesome birth right in the comfort and privacy of our own home! Really, in my own way, I am following my mom's example.

I had a great birthday today. Suzi sang her cute little rendition of happy birthday. Jordan's mom came over and had lunch and cake with us, and asked Suzi how old I was. Suzi insisted I was "just two!" Maybe it's confusing because she can't count to 25 yet. I spent almost all day cleaning, organizing, and doing laundry to get ready for Ivey. This has become my new favorite pastime (weird, right?), and we have nearly all of our birth supplies packed up and ready to go. We took our dog Phibby for a walk after dinner and then went to Target to pick up our last few supplies (candles, a Boppy, tennis balls). We'll probably watch a movie in a little while and then go to bed. More things on the agenda for tomorrow!