At long last...

On August 19th, at 8:41pm Tucson time, the most precious baby in all the wide world finally made his appearance.

My sweet little pumpkin was born Thursday night, weighing an adorable 7lbs and measuring a lovely 19 inches. For pictures you can visit him here. The password for access is madrid.

Although he came two weeks before my due date, he is a full-term baby, albeit a small one. I guess he was ready to see me before I was ready! I was in the early stages of labor all day and night on Wednesday, but I just couldn’t believe it; I thought I just had really bad constipation! What a dork I am.

I won’t go into any great detail about the labor right now, because I am tired and Ryland is starting to stir, but I will say this much: it was hard and it hurt and it took a lot out of me, even with the epidural. But it was the single most rewarding, fulfilling and beautiful experience of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Giving birth is just so unbelievable, so overwhelming, so empowering that I don’t think I could ever describe it in the right words. I feel so different now, completely disconnected from the person I was before. I feel proud and elated and happy.

It?s funny, because I believe now that everything that has occurred in my life, every good thing, every bad thing, every seemingly inconsequential thing, were all leading me to this very moment, where I have him. He is the sweetest most perfect thing I can imagine and I wonder what I did to deserve him.

I look at him and there is so much love in me, it hurts. It hurts me, I love him so much. I am terrified because now he isn’t safe inside me, he’s out in the world and we all know how cruel this place can be, and I can only do so much to protect him.

I wish I could relive the pregnancy and the labor and birth over and over again.

There is so much more I need to say about this, but the little one is ready for some grub.

By the way, each one of my breasts weighs more than he does.