And Jack makes three.

On July 24th I gave birth to our son, Jack Sheldon. At midnight the night before I felt a twinge and I woke up Joel and was like, "I think something is happening." And I went back to sleep. By morning the twinges were coming regularly, but they weren't terrible and I wasn't doubled over or anything. At around 1 pm the following day I was sitting in a hot bath, breathing deeply, and I told Joel to call Tanya, the hypnotherapist, and the midwives. I talked to my mom, who was in town for the birth. She was thinking about going to Ikea--I told her to go, of course! I mean, these things take time, right?

The monitrice told Joel to call her back when my contractions were 3 to 4 minutes apart. Very soon after that phone call my contractions were coming fast--1 minute apart. Joel was diligently timing them, waiting for them to be 3 to 4 minutes apart before he called Tanya again. Finally I told Joel to call her, call her! I needed her support. As it turned out, she thought that my contractions would be much slower in progressing to where they were--I had zoomed right over the 3 to 4 minute mark to fast, strong contractions. Jack was on his way.

I called my mom and she came back from Ikea. The birth was beautiful. It took place in our home, with wonderful support and in a relaxing atmosphere. Birth is not painful, I'm serious. It is intense and it takes work but "pain" doesn't really enter the equation at any time. I can't imagine having had my son any other way--he was brought into this world surrounded by people who love him and there were no interventions, no antibiotics, no pain medications to make us groggy and unaware of the present moment. Jack was born at 7:55 pm.

I can't believe that 3 months have passed since that day. I feel like I have always known Jack and that I've always been his mother. Joel is the most natural father; it is a joy to watch him with Jack. They sing together, they practice talking, they cuddle and kiss and it is beautiful. Parenthood is the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Our family.

Jack Sheldon at 3 weeks.

little fish/big pond

Last night I had the privilege of participating in a conference call with eight very smart and accomplished women from Editopian. Conference calls are hard for me; I get tongue-tied and end up saying little for fear of looking silly or stupid. I like to be able to read the crowd and look people in the eye, and converse that way. Conference calls make me spacey, which makes me nervous, which means that three minutes have gone by where I'm stressing out about not listening, which means that I haven't been listening.

I'm looking forward to the next ten years. I want to become one of those smart, accomplished editors that I was on the phone with. I feel that I am at the cusp of a successful future; I just need time in the saddle, so to speak, to raise my confidence and skill level.

My lifelong goals are to have a successful marriage, build a satisfying career where my presence matters, and to raise great kids that we love. That isn't asking too much, right? Lev and I can handle goal number one and three, but my second goal? The one about the career? That is all me. And I feel like I'm standing at the foot of the mountain, looking up.

saturday stuff

It snowed last night, sort of, but it's not cold so it's good ol' Chicago slush. And last night Tori had her babies, a girl and a boy. Born Chicagoans!

Lev is feeding his coworker's cat while said coworker is out of town. We stopped by this morning on the way to dropping Lev off at work--he went inside and I waited in the car. He told me that the cat hugged his leg when he came in. A cat hug. I love it.

Our street

surprise(d)

My mom just texted me that my cousin was in the hospital next door giving birth. I ran over there and my aunt had already flown in from New York and was in the hall. And very surprised to see me! Wow! Tori is giving birth to twins--so exciting!

I love it when the world gets a little smaller, to quote my mom. And two babies bigger--Congratulations Tori!

Vintage Valentine