My new godson

The plan was simple. My friend Amanda was going to go into the hospital on Friday night to be prepped to be induced on Saturday morning. I would go to the hospital on Saturday morning to be her labor support (along with her husband (and my cousin) Matt).

Of course babies aren't so good with the whole "plan following" skill so I wasn't too terribly surprised when I got a text on Friday night that said "My water just broke!"

I got to the hospital as quickly as I could and by the time I got there Amanda was already pretty uncomfortable. Her contractions were coming pretty much one on top of the other. In spite of this she said that her plan we still to go epidural free.

Around midnight a nurse checked Amanda and said she was at 4 centimeters. Matt and I helped her get onto the birthing ball and she spent the next two hours there, gently rolling from side to side. Matt and I traded off positions, rubbing her back and holding her hand.

The next few hours are sort of a blur. All I know is that all those contractions coming so quickly certainly did their job. Less than six hours after her water broke Amanda told us she felt ready to push.

I was amazed. This was her first baby and not only was she in touch with her body enough to know when the big moment had arrived, she had also gotten to that point without an epidural. Other than a little moaning (and one tiny little "Fuck!") she was astoundingly composed and calm.

Amanda only pushed for a little over an hour. With each push I could see how much progress she was making. Even the nurse was impressed with how well she did. Sometimes she would have a break of up to five minutes between contractions and during those breaks she would rest. I don't think there has ever been a woman who was more serene than Amanda was during delivery.

When the baby was born his cord was around his neck but otherwise he was perfect. He cried loudly right away and was a beautiful shade of pink. I got to cut the cord (my hands were shaking so much that I was certain I was going to cut the doctor's finger off) and then took about a million pictures.

I felt like I was on a high after seeing that birth. It was so beautiful and everything went so smoothly. It was a huge privilege just to be a part of it. After Amanda and her new son were resting comfortably I headed home. Even though I didn't gotten any sleep during the night I wasn't able to rest. It's hard to fall asleep when you have a giant grin on your face.

Today Amanda and my gorgeous new godson* will come home from the hospital. I'm so happy for them and for Matt. I'm excited to see them start their new life as a family together.

I'm still walking on air over being able to be there when it all began.

*They asked me to be his godmother and I answered with the traditional response of "Ohmygodshutupyou'remakingmecry!" I blame the hormones surging through the room.

Two years ago today I had a killer headache.

Wedding weekend

Ok, I'm just going to say it: Joseph was the cutest ring bearer that has ever been and ever will be. We sat in the second row so that if he needed to sit down during the ceremony he would be able to find us right away. When he first started walking down the isle I couldn't even see him, I just heard all these murmers and chuckles. Then I saw him walking slowly, slowly down the isle. He was holding his little ring pillow so carefuly and turning towards each person who wanted to take a picture of him. When he got to the front he went right to his assigned place and loudly announed "A lot of people want to take my picture today!" He was so good during the ceremony and stood nicely and (mostly) quietly the whole time. At one point he decided that not everyone would be able to hear what was being said so he tried to do some sign language but otherwise he just stood there smiling. What a doll.

The wedding itself was lovely. Amanda was beautiful, the food was good, the reception was fun and a good time was had by all. It was a really nice day. Oh, and Ben did his Lola dance which I think is one of the 10 things every person should see in their life. As Matt said, no wedding is complete without it.

Oh, funny story. At the rehersal dinner Joseph got it into his head that he wanted to marry Amanda so he tried a few tactics to get her interested. He offered to wrestle Matt but when that didn't work he moved on to trickier tactics. He tried telling Amanda that I told him that Matt told me that he didn't want to marry her anymore. I'm shocked she didn't fall for that. After a while he gave up and set his sights on Amanda's little brother. They played Playmobil together for a while and at one point Joseph looked at him and said "You're cute. I love you. I knew from the first time I saw you that I liked you." Oh my god. I was just crying from laughing so hard. I wonder what this poor 16 year old kid thought about a goofy 5 year old professing his love for him over dinner at Mexican Village?

Joseph's Special Day

Joseph is so excited about the wedding coming up this weekend. He's been talking about his "special day" for the past week. He's convinced everyone is going to be there to see him carry the rings. He's so funny. Out of nowhere he'll say something to me like "Mommy, did you know bearer is just a fancy word for person who carries the ring?"

He and Jesse went and got his outfit for the wedding last night and Joseph was so excited about it that he wanted to wear it home. He's so cute.

I'm having trouble typing because I had fake nails put on a couple days ago. I went to the local beauty school to have my nails done and to have a pedicure. The whole thing took 4 flipping hours. About 3 of that was my nails. To be honest she did a pretty crappy job too. They're really lumpy and bumpy. I was all excited because the woman who did them told me she was graduating on Friday so I thought she would be good but she ..... wasn't. So now I'm debating. Do I go back again and have them redone? Do I go somewhere else and have redone? Do I go back and have them taken off? Do I wait a couple of weeks and have them redone when I have them filled? Do I get annoyed and weepy when I think about the fact that one of my few attmepts in the last several years to do something girly ended up with me having lumpy, bumpy nails?

On the bright side Amanda came with me to watch Elle while I was worked on and we had a really nice time chatting and gossiping. Afterwards we went shopping. It was funny to spend my day getting pampered (sort of) and then shopping (all I bought were diapers). I felt like such a girly girl. The day was fun overall so I shouldn't complain.

What I will complain about is the sucky way that two reality shows I watch went last night. I can't believe the fricken hippies won the Amazing race. They annoyed me to the end and sometime I actually found myself rooting for Eric and Jeremy over them. Eric and Jeremy! What does that tell you?

Then, the Top Chef incident. Don't even get me started on that. To get rid of Dave over Tiffany was crap. The only did that so in the final episode good (Harold) can triumph over evil (Tiffany). I predict that at one point Harold will whine about how this is not how he's used to cooking and then later he will say "I'm a chef man, that's what I do". I predict Tiffany will never lose her perpetual bitch face. Tune in to find out if I'm right!

Overall, pretty good

All things considered we had a pretty good weekend. Saturday was Amanda's wedding shower and that went well. I think people had fun and Amanda got some really good gifts. The food turned out well and people seemed to like the stuff I made. Who knew lavander cupcakes would be so good?

Before the shower I went with Amanda when she went for her wedding hair-do trial run. It was lots of fun and she looked so pretty. She got me a early birthday present, an italian charm bracelet. I love it! It has a charm with Joseph's birthstone, one with Elle's birthsone, one with the stone from the month Jesse and I were married, our initials, one with a butterfly and one that says "I love chocolate". How cute is that?

Today we went to the mall and I lost about 20 pounds when I got about 10 inches of hair cut off. I also lost another pound when I had my wooly eyebrows waxed. I look so girly. It's kind of nice.

Elle sat on her own for about 20 seconds today. Yikes! She's getting so big. I miss my little baby who was happy just laying on my chest and sleeping all day. Oh well. I bought her a pretty dress for Easter/upcoming weddings. I love having a little girl to spoil.

Now I'm going to go watch the Sopranos and eat leftover shower fudge. Life is sweet.