Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Baby Photos

After being together for about seven years (5 years dating, 2 years married),  I decided it was time for a baby.

About a year earlier, my husband sprung on me that he didn't really care if we had kids.

Having a "rocky" childhoods were a sort of glue that bonded us together.  A safe haven.  You're messed up, I'm messed up, let's just get on with it.  I was always terrified of being a bad parent, so I kind of went along with it.

Fast forward twelve months and I can't really tell you what changed, but I was thinking about babies all the time.

You know, the romantic stuff about babies that people who don't have babies think about.  Cute little faces, sweet baby cuddling, tiny clothes, or the smell of baby lotion.  Not the moments of reminding yourself that if you don't feed the kid, you're going to jail.  If you don't change the kid, you're going to jail.  And definitely not those moments of knowing that no matter what perfume you are wearing it's just barely covering up the underlying scent of someone else's vomit.

It wasn't easy trying to convince him, but one night, alone in the moonlight, fishing off the back of a tiny boat in the middle of the Mississippi River, he leaned over and whispered, "It might be cool to have a kid." 

It might be cool to have a kid.

It might be cool to have a kid, but it's apparently not as easy as I had once thought.  There are diagrams in books, right?  Follow the directions and it happens, right?  Yeah...not so much.

Time passed, attempts were made, doctors appointments were had, medications were taken and all of a sudden this idea that it might be cool to have a kid changed into "It might be cool, but it may not EVER happen."

I had just finished my final cycle of chlomid and with that came the decision that I would not make any further attempts at enhancing my chance of having a baby.  I didn't want to do further testing, I did not want to know whether it was me or him.  I just wanted to be done and move on.

The final cycle happened to coincide with a planned cruise, where I learned what some high school and college friends of mine learned early.  Alcohol can sometimes be the kicker.

I found out I was pregnant 12 days after we came home.  Excitement led to terror as I had to immediately end a long term relationship with the Marlboro Man.  I was given what I wanted, I had to treat it like I appreciated it.

9 months later and the WORST pregnancy EVER, I was running late for my scheduled C-section.   My husband was driving like crazy through rush hour traffic.  My family was already there waiting and we were not there.

When we arrived it was a whirlwind of blood tests, fetal monitoring, and surgery prep.  BTW...I had never had surgery, so I was freaked out and keenly aware that my husband was snapping pictures of EVERYTHING.

"Smile"...getting blood drawn
"Smile"...while getting an epidural

What I wanted in the operating room was a husband that was sitting next to my head telling me that everything would be ok.  What I got was a husband standing up looking over the drape cracking jokes, asking questions that no one wants their doctor to answer while they are performing surgery, and leaning down every now and again to lovingly remind me that he can "see my insides".

Finally...It's a girl.  A beautiful girl.  A healthy girl.

The first time I saw her I didn't understand how a baby, so obviously Asian, was born to two of the most Caucasian people in the world.

The first day was a whirlwind.  So many people visiting.  These crazy nurses that kept coming in FORCING me to breastfeed a baby that would just fall asleep the minute we would get her to latch on.  I was tired, but I knew one thing had to be done.

I picked up the camera and as my sister was getting ready to walk out the door, I handed her the disks that held precious, precious photos of my little Autumn Nicole.

"Pick one really good picture of her and email it to everyone in my email list." I said as I handed them over.

"No problem." she replied

The next morning my room phone rang.  I was excited to hear the voice of my good friend, Scott. 

"Good Morning", he said.  But there was something almost devious in his voice.

"Hello", I said.

"I came into work this morning to a surprise." he relayed.

"Oh...Good, she sent them out I was worried."

"Who sent them out?"

"My sister sent them out for me."

"Are you sitting down?"

Uh-oh!

He recounted to me how he came into work and saw the email from me.  He opened it expecting to see a red faced baby, but as the picture was opening, coming down the aisle at work was our boss with intent in her voice making it very clear NOT to open the email from me.  In the confusion of the moment he began to look through the photos.  No red faced baby to be found, there were however photos of doctors elbow deep in my abdomen, lots of blood, and ultimately epidural shots that revealed my butt-crack.

The photos were sent out to roughly 200 people.  Family members, friends, co-workers, random people I have emailed with questions about items I saw on ebay.

My sister's story?  She never looked at the pictures, just was too tired to pick one out, so she sent the entire disk to everyone.

I guess every desire comes with a price.



 

2 comments:

  1. I am sorry, I was exhausted!! just remember you wouldn't have this story if that didn't happen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seriously, my jaw just fell onto the floor....lol

    ReplyDelete