Two weeks of bliss...

The other day I asked Derek, "If you could go back to any two week period in your life, when would it be?"  Of course he didn't really come up with an answer.  He's not very good at hypothetical question games.  Maybe it was easier for me because I had already given it some thought. 

I would go back to June 22, 2007.  That would be today, four years ago.  Why?  Because that was the last day that I was pregnant with Lincoln.  I might be repeating myself a lot through this post but my pregnancy and delivery with Lincoln was one of those times I could go on and on and on about any day, any time.

I had a breeze of a pregnancy and LOVED feeling him move inside me.  I know some people are so weirded out by it, but I never understood that.  I thought it was THE most amazing thing in the whole world.  It was probably the neatest thing I've experienced and possibly that I ever will. 

So, today four years ago, right around this time Derek and I sat down to eat our last meal just the two of us.  We had grilled chicken and rice pilaf.  I remember the pilaf because I saw it come back up later that night in the hospital parking lot.  I was embaressed for only a minute until the contractions started and I couldn't have cared less.  Funny how that works.

Anyway, Derek mowed the lawn and we had dinner.  There was such an anticipation during that time in our lives.  Waiting for the arrival of a first child is filled with such excitement and also fear of the unknown.

That night I went into labor and we went to the hospital.  I'd heard so many stories of people being sent home from the hospital because they were in false labor.  I kind of wondered if that would happen to me, but as they moved me from the observation room to a REAL room, I couldn't believe it.  It was actually happening.

I thought I could do it natural, but that just didn't happen.  Even now, I sometimes wish I would've just stuck it out.  But, I really can't complain.  The epidural was such a relief that if I were to be back in that situation, I might just do it again.

(Derek filling out paperwork.  Mindi pushing on my knees because my legs were shaking so badly as I dealt with the pain.  Larry, Louise and Jeri waiting for his arrival.)

At 7:16 a.m. he was finally here - a whopping 5 lbs. 14 oz. 

That's hard to believe when you look at him now.

Everything was so perfect. 

We got to sit for the next couple of days and just hold our new baby.

I'll never forget thinking how crazy it was to see Derek holding *our* baby.

Amazing.

And then, after having meals brought to me three times a day and a nursery to send our baby at night, if needed, we came home and did it all on our own.

I loved having so many visitors (in the hospital and at home) come by to see Lincoln and we even received gifts and well wishes from neighbors we'd never met before then.  

My dad even drove his Model A out so we got a few pictures of Lincoln by his sweet car.

I can remember being sore and very tired but all of that is nothing in comparison to the memories of sitting and holding him as much as I could.  I remember kissing his nose and smelling his sweet breath.  I remember how he slept all the time and I would sit there for what seemed like forever and watch him sleep so peacefully.  Everything seemed so perfect at that time.  It was like the stars had aligned for us.

That's why I'd go back to those first two weeks of his life.

It was absolute bliss.