Nephew

So I headed up to my hometown last Saturday night and was holding my breath waiting for my nephew to enter the world. My sister was having some issues with her liver and also severe itching with her hands and feet. They decided to induce her a couple of weeks early to avoid some of the risks that are involved with this condition.

The gave her the cervadil (sp?) stuff on Saturday night and then the petocin Sunday morning. I slept at my mom and dad's house when I arrived, but I couldn't sleep AT ALL knowing that my sister could call at any point since she started some contractions on Saturday. I literally was on the road to the hospital at 7:15 Sunday morning with only two quick stops on my way - Starbucks (of course) and then a gas station to pick up some gossip magazines for the moments of calm that I thought could lay ahead with nothing to do but stare at each other.

Kim's morning was rough with lots of contractions and by 11:00 a.m. they had broken her water and she was having serious pain verrrrry frequently. They said she was 2 minutes a part, but it felt like 10 seconds. It was really hard watching her in all that pain.

The epidural guy came in finally and I think she wishes she would have called him in about an hour earlier, but nevertheless - do your needle thing man!! She felt way better, but then she started getting the shakes and again, it was hard to watch.

I've never been a part of a live birth and it was quite.......interesting. :-) It's kind of weird sometimes to know that I am already a mom and I have 2 awesome kids that I am living life with every day, but I have never done "that". I have never had "that" experience. I won't lie and say I wouldn't love to give birth to a child and experience the whole pregnancy thing and all the fun that encompasses knowing you've created this little life, but I am NOT missing out on all that pain.

Nope.

I'm not.

No envy there.

Ha!

God has been good to me. There is no doubt in my mind that my babies came to me they way they did for a very specific reason. God knows the plans He has for me and that's good enough for me. I wouldn't trade my two lamb chops for all the samples at Sam's. :-)

I loved seeing the miracle of life in baby Cooper. Watching him come into this world was a huge highlight for me in my life. It was such a blessing to be a part of.

I stayed in town with my sister and Coop until Tuesday night after they had released her from the hospital. I left them with a couple of meals, some cookies and a clean house. The Aunt's job is done.

I got lots of snuggle time with my precious nephew and it was a joy. I even stayed at the hospital one night with Kim to let her hubby go home and then get their older kids off to school. Coop cried quite a bit that night and all the nights of no sleep with Little Girl and Baby Boy came flooding back to me. Wow! It seems so long ago, and yet it felt like yesterday when I was awake looking at the clock at 1:00 and 2:00 and thinking "I'm not sleeping tonight - am I?" :-)

Kim and Cooper are doing well. He is perfectly healthy and adorable in every way. I only have to wait 2 more weeks to go see him again because we have our annual family reunion coming up. Yay!

Enjoy some more pics!