Thursday, July 29, 2010

Nathan Jr's Birthday

Tuesday is Nathan Jr's birthday.

Like his siblings', his birth was induced at 38 weeks. There was very little uncertainty about when he would be born. The obstetrician scheduled an appointment with the hospital, labor was induced with pitocin, and grandmothers' flights were booked well in advance.

I realized at the time that because we could schedule his birth, perhaps we should take advantage of the calendar and give Nathan Jr a cool birthdate: 08-08-08.

You may recall that I'm not a very happy pregnant lady. I'm sick for the first half and GINORMOUSLY HUGE for the second half. I spend the last month or so experiencing constant contractions which enable me to walk into the hospital already 4 to 5 centimeters dilated. (On the bright side, that makes delivery pretty fast. Nathan Jr was out on the second push.) Then there's that whole "sober" thing that doesn't mesh well with my lifestyle or personality.

Someday, when I'm far enough removed from the horror of pregnancy, I may wonder why we accepted the first available time slot on the 3rd. Why didn't we request the 8th? Well, Future Me, allow me to respond:

Reason 1: Bump's birthday is the 10th.

No one wants to share their birthday, and a full week between Bump's Special Day and Nathan Jr's Special Day seemed reasonable. That gives me a whole week to recover from planning Nathan Jr's birthday party and to prepare the Absolutely Nothing I typically shower on Bump.

(Yeah, I kind of suck. At least I make a cake, though, and seven days guarantees that Nathan Jr's cake will be completely gone and Bump will get his own damn cake.)

Reason 2, aka the Actual Reason, and Waaaaaay More Compelling Than That First Thing: There are FIVE days between the 3rd and the 8th.

If you had suggested to me - pregnant and contracting and extremely unhappy me - that I wait five (5! FIE-HUV.) whole days to get that baby out, just so he could have an amusing birthdate, I would have punched you in the throat.

If you had suggested it via telephone or email, I would have walk-waddled to your house and then punched you in the throat, muttering the whole way about what a fucking idiot you are.

So Happy Birthday Nathan Jr. I suppose I could have used this post to marvel that you're already two, to describe how awesome you are and what milestones you've reached, or to imagine the incredible man you will become.  But I didn't.

I'm glad you were born. On the 3rd.

6 comments:

Mom2shoo said...

LOL! I have two kids with neat birthdays and it's nowhere near as exciting as you might think ;o). I'd have made the same choice.

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah said...

Happy birthday to him.

I remember the day well, you were in no mood to hold him in for another five days.

Anonymous said...

You are a wise, wise woman. Seriously. I support you fully in not waiting until the 8th (although it clearly doesn't matter whether or not you have my support since it's already done, etc.).

bozoette said...

Happy birthday, Nathan Jr. on the third!

I'm not crazy, just well mixed! said...

Ahhhh! This brings back the bad memory of my induction being pushed back 3 days. Three. Whole. Days. Remember that? I think you offered to cry for me or punch my Doctor or something.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Nathan Jr.

Violet said...

Happy birthday Nathan Jr!
Though I would have suggested waiting until the 8th just for the extra good luck he would have, by having so many 8's in his birthdate. That is, if you believe in that kinda thing...