Delivery Room Bliss*

Hello friends! I know it's been a couple of weeks. I was off gallivanting in Seattle with family & friends for a while, and taking a much needed break from life. I have so many photos to share about my trip to Seattle, and a lengthy post to go with it, but instead of bombarding you with information overload, we'll just take it one day at a time :)

While I was home, I had the amazing honor to be in the delivery room with my best friend of almost twenty years, as she gave birth to her first child. Kim & I have known each other since we were in the sixth grade. We played soccer on the same team, even though we went to different schools. Our sophmore year, we were inseparable, and drove our parents and families crazy by our obsession of No Doubt and Empire Records. To this day, we can still recite the ENTIRE movie, line by line. [This may be due to the fact that we would watch it two or three times in a row, EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND.] In college, we spent our summers working together at the marina, chasing boys, drinking way more than we should have, and expanding our obsession for good music and living the ultimate bohemian lifestyle. Even though we went to college on opposite sides of the state, she remained my closest ally, and somebody that knew me better than anybody else. We never did anything without the other person, and we continued to drive our families crazy by our attached at the hip mentality. It was funny & borderline annoying to some that we could complete thoughts & sentences without even realizing that we were doing so. And even though I have moved farther and farther away from Seattle over the years, she remains one of the closest people in my life. She is my sister. My friend. My family.

When she asked me to be in the delivery room with her when it came time to push, I was completely honored. Having a baby is such a personal experience. Not to mention the fact that anybody that's in that room is going to see *ahem* everything. Luckily, Kim & I are very comfortable around each other, but it definitely took our friendship to a new level. Being in the delivery room with her was both terrifying & exciting at the same time. I had more than one moment where I thought to myself I CANNOT DO THIS IN SIX MONTHS. Kim was a trooper. She was so amazing, and everything that she did made me so proud of her. The miracle of life is just that ... a miracle. But it's rough. And definitely not pretty. And all I could think of WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO?

But at the same time, it was beautiful. With the first glimpse of the head, all I do was cry and tell her how amazing she was doing, that her baby was almost here. When i say she was a champ, I mean that ... she pushed through four contractions and out he came. It was amazing. The room was instantly filled with joy, & her sister and I just hugged each other while trying to stay out of the way of the nurses. He was tiny, & beautiful, & absolutely perfect. [I should mention that the photo above was taken just moments after baby was born. It is my favorite, and it makes me tear up every time I look at it.]

Seeing Kim & her amazingly supportive husband afterwards ... holding baby Sully & seeing how happy they were ... crying with her family in the waiting room as I got to show them the first pictures of their new grandson/nephew/cousin ... it was worth it. All of her laboring. All of her pain. All of her struggles to get that baby out and welcome to him to the world ... worth it.

There was so much love, and so much happiness floating around in the hours afterwards. And holding that little man in my arms two days later, it was amazing.

So while I know that watching her do her thing brought a whole new level of terror into this pregnancy, I know that it will all be worth it in the end. That having our child will be worth every ounce of pain and suffering that I go through in just six short months.

I love you Kimmie! Thank you for being an amazing friend. And welcome to the world, Sully. Your mamma & I cannot WAIT for you and Baby W to be the best of friends!