Gabriel's birthday So, I'm

Gabriel's birthday

So, I'm a day late. So sue me. I've had the Hubster home. 'nuff said.

Yesterday was Gabe's birthday. My little man is five. I can't believe it. FIVE.

I was induced with him, due to being postdates. His due date was calculated, with the help of my charts, as being October 11. When I went for my 36 week check, I had an internal, because I ASKED FOR ONE. I know, what kind of sick person am I that I actually asked for an internal exam?? The entire week before had been filled with contractions, and I was convinced that I was progressing. The nurse smirked at me, and went down the hall to spread the gossip of "the woman who requested an internal!" Whooppee.

I was found to be 4 centimeters. Woo-hoo! The ob was amazed, and told me to go home and pack my bag - I'd be holding my sweet baby any day. She said the same at my 37 week check - 4 cms, any day now. And at the 38 week check. And the 39.

At 39 weeks, she stripped my membranes, an extremely uncomfortable procedure that usually brings on labor. I returned for my 40 week check. Had the membranes stripped again. I was *heartily* sick of this pattern, and yet on it went. The 41 week check - stripped yet again, and offered an induction. Which she was certain that I wouldn't need, as I was going to be holding my baby any time now.

Ocotber 25 - officially 14 days over, and I checked myself into the hospital bright and early. The Hubster was in charge of getting the older three kids to their respective schools, and was going to meet me later. The night before, I had done a course of castor oil, and was wildly uncomfortable all night, but still no labor. The contractions that had plagued me at 36 and 37 weeks had stopped by 38, and I hadn't felt another. I had tried the black cohosh, the blue cohosh, the frequent sex, the mexican foods, the chinese foods, the bumpy rides. All of it. I was sooo sick of being pregnant. The doctor broke my water, and told me to walk the halls. The halls that just happened to be under construction.

I walked for two hours. I dodged the jackhammers, the ladders, and the inquisitve stares of the workers. Guess they had never seen a hugely pregnant woman, wearing two hospital gowns and trailing water. Glamorous, I was not.

I walked, and walked. I never had a contraction. 10:00, and I went for a check. I was *still* four centimeters. The same as I had been for SIX WEEKS. I sat with the monitor strapped on for the required fifteen minutes, and got up and began the hospital walk again. I walked until noon. I came back, and nothing. Not one measley contraction; not one. When the Hubster returned, I consented to the pitocin drip. Labor came fast and hard after that. I rocked in the rocker, and hung out over the side of the bed. At 2:31, I began to push, and with two pushes, Gabriel was born. He went straight into a Laboyer bath - given by The Hubster. 7 pounds, 6 ounces. I was the talk of the labor floor - I had gone the longest of any recent pregnancy, the longest without labor starting after breaking my water bag, and the only patient in memory to be induced with pitocin and no pain medication. He was one of my two children to score a 10 on the Apgar.

He is now a bright, sunny cheerful boy. Today, we had his checkup at the doctor. He is 34 pounds and 40 inches. He's smaller than he should be, but he's had so many steroids for breathing that he may have lost a few inches. As the doctor said, though, it's better to breath and be a bit shorter. He makes up jokes all the time. At school, the teacher calls him her "giggle bunny", and says he can get the entire class laughing in just a minute. The doctor today told him to hop on one leg, as a test of his balance, and Gabe jumped up on the doctor's leg. Get it? He hopped on one leg. It was hysterical, and so typical of Gabe. Everything is black and white for him, with no shades of gray. He loves trains, SpiderMan, playdough, riding his bike, and gymnastics.

Mommy loves you, sweetie. Happy birthday.