A welcome letter to Baby Eric

Dearest Eric Robert,

You're three weeks old.

Wow.

I knew I needed to put down your birth story, otherwise it will fade in my memory like your sister Zoë's already has.

You were due on Saturday, January 12th. You were born on Friday, January 11th. My doctor told me that I'm one of those lucky women who delivers fully-cooked babies. Yay for me. But both you and your sister were beautiful and healthy. So that's what matters.

I had decided that Friday the 11th was going to be my last day at work. I was quite ready for you to come and to not be on my feet anymore. I had a doctor's appointment that morning and was told that you could come any time, or that you might wait a while.  I went to school and taught the afternoon, then stayed a little while cleaning up my desk and organizing some papers. I'd had my substitute folder complete and ready to go since we'd returned from Christmas break, just in case.

Your grandparents on my side, Gigi and Grandaddy, had said they would come get your sister and take her for the weekend. I think Gigi had an inkling that you were going to come soon. They came and picked up Zoë around 6. Your Daddy and I decided to live it up and go out to eat and see a movie. We thought we should take advantage of being sans kiddos one last time. On our way to dinner, we stopped by the Warren Theatre and bought tickets to the 8 o'clock IMAX showing of The Hobbit. We headed to Pei Wei, one of Mommy's favorite places to eat.

During dinner, I started having a few contractions. I'd had Braxton-Hicks contractions for months with both Zoë and you, and usually they stopped. While these felt a little stronger, a little different from those, I still didn't think you were coming yet. We left for the theatre at 7:50. We pulled into the parking lot and I was feeling very unsure if we should go watch the movie or not. We decided since we already had the tickets, we would try it but sit on the aisle in case we needed to leave. We got out of the car and I had a very strong contraction that stopped me in my tracks. Back into the car I went. Your Daddy dashed back into the theatre and got a refund for our tickets. He wondered if we should just go to the hospital and he would go back home later for my hospital bag. I said no, let's go home first, maybe my contractions will stop. But they didn't and were getting stronger and closer together.

We made it home and were only there for 10 minutes or so before I was having to stop and do breathing exercises through the contractions. Your Daddy zipped into high gear and rushed around the house getting the last few things we needed. We got into the car and headed to the Birth Care Center with my contractions about a minute apart. We checked in at the desk and I kept having to lean on your Daddy as I was trying to sign my name to all the paperwork. We got to our hospital room around 8:55.

Everything went incredibly fast and before I knew it, they were telling me I could push if I wanted to. I couldn't believe that you were about to come. I looked at your Daddy and asked, Are they really telling me to push? I remember the delivery nurse telling me that I was doing a great job and was about to have a baby. I was so confused because we had just gotten to the hospital. What do you mean I'm about to have a baby? Do you know what you're saying? I just got here! Your Daddy was helping me breathe and count and the doctor broke my water, I pushed...

And you came into our world at 9:38 p.m.
8 lbs, 5 oz, 20 1/4 inches long. A head of black hair and a healthy cry.
Long fingers and what your Daddy affectionately calls your monkey feet. Long feet and toes like fingers, just like him.

And we loved you completely.

Welcome to our family, Eric.

Love you forever,
Mama
xo