Birthday eve

Eight years ago I knew I would be a mom in a matter of hours. Those hours turned into another 16 hours and were obviously worth all the work. Actually, the eight hours seemed like forever both because of the labor and because I just wanted my first born to arrive. It was 10:30 p.m. when we thought we'd leave the hospital because induction wasn't working. Plans changed when I rose, went to put on my clothes and my water broke. A night of being sick, tough labor, difficult breathing for Max internally and me and laboring on one side all to get to morning, the signing of C-section papers in case we got to that point, then an epidural and finally at 3:36 p.m. Max would arrive with Mitch announcing his gender with tears in his eyes. A brief snuggle and love at first site and Max was quickly taken from us to check his breathing and his stats after a difficult delivery and an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, I couldn't wait to have him in my arms longer. It was awhile before we had more than a minute because I was sick and he was being checked but when we did, I couldn't let go. Looking back, I'm just sad I didn't hold him even more in the first days!

It's been a ride of wonders, learning, laughter, love, tears, challenges, frustrations and everything in between. I could write so many things but I'll leave it as saying Max has blessed my life in too many ways to count and I only hope he looks back on his childhood counting his blessings for being a part of our family.

Today, we prepared to celebrate by making brownies for school, cupcakes for dinner and crumble cake for breakfast. Now, I just spent a time downloading videos and photos to make room for more, blowing up tons of balloons - have to fill the bedroom floor and hang them from the light fixture in the kitchen, and wrapping presents. I did wonder if an eight year old would want balloons but Max made it known without me asking - "Mom, will there be balloons in my bedroom in the morning?" Me - "Yes, of course." There was no doubt that he wasn't questioning it because he didn't want them. Mitch painted the "Happy Birthday" poster. Looks like we're ready.

It's 11:10 and time to go sit by Max's bed, watch him sleep and count my blessings.