glor's birth story pt.1

I think being around birth this past week has made me really nostalgic about birth stories, and those precious hours. I spent a lot of time detailing & timelining Elias' birth and then writing his birth story, but I never did that for Glory because I figured - simple, planned c-section... but theres some beauty & some funny in there. Unfortunately no one was writing the timeline this go-round & a lot of memory is hazy from drugs, but it's still the way I see it.

Since my first appointment with Dr. Sanford after we moved, she told me she absolutely wouldn't consider a VBAC and so we planned March 14th as Glory's debut. Even though she threatened to come out a few weeks early after a massive workout, she stayed in until that very day. The days leading up to the surgery were really surreal because it was hard to understand that I knew Thursday I wouldn't have a baby & Friday I would. That week we tried to get all the bags packed, the nursery ready, & the bassinet set-up. I wanted to take Elias to the zoo, but thought it would be too expensive so Nick and I took him to the pet store on Wednesday to do something special with just him:).

On Thursday I went to small group as usual... it felt weird to tell all of them, "I have one son named Elias, tomorrow I'll have another - Glory". We were all still sort of meeting & introducing ourselves. We didn't go out to to lunch because I wanted to race back and spend time with Elias and finish Glory's quilt. I did both and around dinner time Elias got REALLY fussy, which made me feel weird & worn-out already. That night, Kalle came to spend the night & we went and picked up my sister. Up to that point, I honestly was just so anticipatory about Katie coming... even driving home from the airport - I just felt the need to pause and catch up with her for a few days, not add more to the mix. We got home around ten pm & Katie was really worn out so we just sort of crashed. I remember debating about whether or not to take my dark nail polish off, but I was so tired - I just passed out.

The next morning I woke up around six-thirty, showered & curled my hair and went to go wake Elias up. I remember telling him what a special day it was and I really enjoyed that last hour with him before we left for the hospital. I kept reminding myself & him that I was giving him the greatest gift I could as a momma. And then it was off to the hospital for Nick and I...