Full Circle

Twenty-four years ago last night, my husband and I spent our last evening as just a couple. We cooked a favorite dinner, Szechuan chicken, and watched the news showing the Challenger disaster over and over again. Our first baby was 19 days overdue and I was scheduled to have labor induced the next morning.

We got up early the morning of the 29th, paused to take a picture of a very pregnant me in front of the fireplace, said goodbye to the dog and headed to the hospital on some snowy roads. The doctor assured me I would have the baby by dinnertime. Well, our son arrived not-so-fashionably late around 10:30 that night after a long, difficult labor and delivery. I didn't get to hold him for the first 45 minutes since I wasn't in such great shape. He was born on a Wednesday night and I couldn't get out of bed until Friday afternoon. The woman in the bed next to me had had her third C-section and was far more mobile than I. When I went for a Lamaze refresher course near the birth of my second child, I described my first experience to the midwife and she said, "Why are you doing this again?" (I laugh now, but you can only imagine what remark did to my already shaky confidence about giving birth.) All's well that ends well and we have now have a fine son who has been a joy to raise and has made us so proud.

And last night, we came full circle and were a just a couple once again. The birthday boy now lives on the West coast, our middle son is in college and our daughter is on a school trip for the weekend. In just a few months, it will be just the two of us most of the time. Thank goodness my husband is still my best friend. We're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate that along with raising a toast to our son's future.

Comments

  1. CatherineJanuary 29, 2010 at 11:05 AM

    They grow so fast!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SiobhánJanuary 31, 2010 at 3:34 AM

    Ummm, I am still back at the 19 days overdue thing. 19 DAYS???????????????????????? OH MY GOSH!!! Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MysteryKnitterAugust 3, 2015 at 4:00 AM

    That's quite a long time, if you ask me.

    ReplyDelete

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