In the beginning......

Our first picture of John - about a week old

I'm writing this in retrospect, which is why it's legible. The hormones have faded. I've rediscovered sleep. Life is good again.
I'll spare you the gory details of John's birth. It was induced, and it was 22 hours long. We went in at 7 p.m., after being up all day, and most of the night before, and he was born at 4:55 p.m. the next day. I don't need to write down any more. If you want to know, just ask - it has been permenantly burned in my mind. Always there, to recount at birthdays, first dates, weddings, etc... But if you hope to have kids one day, don't ask. Just one word from the wise - get the epidural, and don't let a resident put it in! You don't need to know the pure hell of the first two weeks, either. It was a dark and hormonal time. I apologize to all who recieved a hormonal rant in their e-mail in-box in those first bleak, sleep-deprived days. It was all a blur, so it hasn't been burned in my memory quite as deeply as the birth itself, which is a good thing for anyone hoping we'll have another. All I remember was bursting into tears every evening, as the realization hit that even though I was exhausted, and everyone else was getting ready for bed, I was going to be up all night...and all the next day...and the night after that....with no end in sight. Thankfully, those days are long gone as I write this four months later!
However, just to keep a running record of John's growth, he was 8 pounds, 3 ounzes, 50 cm long at birth, and happened to be the cutest baby in the whole place. That's not biased at all - he really was.