To Vegas and back and a birth story.

I was there! Look at her face that is pure happiness. Mandy and baby Tod right after he was born.

What a weekend! When I found out I was pregnant with Ashton I became fascinated with birth. Many of you probably already know that. I've read books, taken classes and basically questioned my midwives to death about all of the deliveries they've seen and all my friends about their births. Most of the time when I talk to someone about birth I always seem to hear the same response of "I didn't know that" or "how come no one tells us this stuff?" and it breaks my heart. I don't so much care what interventions women choose (c-sec, epidural, induction, episiotmy etc) I just hate when they don't know the risks versus the benefits of these things and are shocked with certain outcomes of their birth experiences. I don't think everyone should have a homebirth or go natural I know it's not for everyone but I do believe everyone should go into birth informed so they can make the decisions for themselves instead of relying soley on their OB or midwife. I'll step down off my pedastool now don't worry. But needless to say I am pretty passionate about this subject. So I decided a year or so ago that eventually I would certify to become a child birth educator and teach classes. It's an 8 month process and a little bit pricey so I've opted to wait till we're seeing positive numbers in our bank account instead of negative. Anyway, I still had not yet seen a birth and I so badly wanted that opportunity. My oldest sister Mandy said she'd love to have me and my parents said they'd help fund this weekend adventure to Vegas. So my sister and her OB did their best to guess when she would possibly have her baby and maybe did some unnecessary "helping" that I don't necessairly approve of but for which I was very grateful to help with the timing of my arrival.

I got to Vegas on Thursday and my Mom, Mandy & I played all day long trying to maximize our short weekend together - shopping, eating out, seeing movies etc. On Saturday there was still no sign of baby except for occasional contractions that never seemed to stick around. Finally Mandy and I both said it doesn't matter if I see the birth we've had an awesome weekend. So my Mom and I headed back to the hotel around 9:30 and said we'd see everyone in the morning and make breakfast before I had to be at the airport at 11. Around 10pm that night Mandy called and said she was pretty sure her water had broken! Hoooray I was going to be there after all! So after a long night of stop and go contractions and all of us trying to catch an hour of sleep here and there we headed to the hospital around 5am. It was so crazy to watch someone else be doing the laboring. I must admit I started to tear up when Mandy hit transition and was having to breathe through some really hard contractions. It was almost harder watching someone else go through labor than doing it myself. But just like always when she thought she couldn't take anymore it was time to push and baby Tod came out. She was so strong and awesome through it all. It's a joke among the sisters that we all know how strong Mandy is but Mandy doesn't know how strong she is and let me tell you she IS strong and labored like a champ! Nothing, nothing, NOTHING in the world can compare to seeing a baby come into the world. Magical isn't the right word it's so spiritual. It really is a miracle and I was so grateful to be apart of it!

I'm sure you're all wondering what on earth I did with my 2 kids during this whole weekend. I debated cancelling my flights every night the week before I left telling David I didn't really need to go because I didn't want to leave them for that long. He basically forced me on that plane saying not only could he handle it but that he wanted to do it. Imagine that - so his awesome Mom watched the kids on Friday while he was at school and then he had them on his own the rest of the weekend and even got them all dressed and to church on Sunday. Not only that but after they all picked me up on Sunday night I came home to dinner cooking in the crockpot. Yes he really is that great!

So I missed the kids like crazy - and what do you do when you're on vacation without your kids? You shop for them or rather you help their Nana shop for them. So we bought Ashton some of his favorite accesories. Yep Dad, this is where all your money went when you left us to our own devices on Friday. But look how happy he is! The belt and tie were his favorites now he can be just like Dad on Sundays and he alternated the posistion of the sunglasses like a billion times. He even wore those green boots to bed. It was money well spent if you ask me :)

My mom also picked out adorable Easter outfits for them stay tuned for April. This is probably the only year they'll be that well dressed!

And I was a little worried this little one might not remember me but she did. As soon as I peaked my head into her carseat she started to kick her legs and gave me a huge smile. She's as cute as ever and is getting fast at crawling and starting to steal Ashton's toys.

So in short, you know because I've kept this so short, it was a wonderful weekend. Thanks Mom for taking such good care of me and thanks x100 to Mandy for letting me be there for your birth.