Little Man

Mateo's third birthday is tomorrow. I will post pictures of his birthday after the party. We're driving up to Half Moon Bay and I am praying that the kids won't kill each other in the back seat of the car during the three hour drive.


It was about this time, three years ago today, that I was bawling in my hospital bed, whole body convulsing uncontrollably, tossing my cookies in a tub. I made my father so uncomfortable that he left, unable to listen...or smell... not really sure which.

The doctor had promised that labor would only take about 6 hours since this was the second time inducing. Of course, that was at 10 am, which was a full 10 hours before. So much for that!

Even at this hour, we were holding out hope for a 05/01 birthday since it would have the same digits as Lexi (10/05) and Ruben and I share the same digits (01/27 and 10/27). When 11:45 rolled around and I still had not dilated past a 2, Ruben said he would settle for Cinco de Mayo.

Hell if I was going to hold this baby in for another 4 days! Sheesh!



I got an epidural around 10 pm, only 6 hours past when everyone thought I would have a baby in my arms. The anesthesiologist told me it would be a short one, because, surely, it could not be much longer. Still, shaking, I fell asleep for a couple short hours around 1 am.

It was around 4 am that the pain came searing back through my body and with screams of pain, I not only told my mother and husband that I was going to die and that my husband was going to die, but when the doctor walked in, I screamed to the room that WE WERE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!
As, my doctor called in the anesthesiologist, I continued my screaming, crying tirade. I was trying to push a freight train out of a hole I was certain was never intended to become grand central station.

It was about 5:30 am when the nurse announced to the room that I was still only dilated to a 2. And, it was only 20 minutes later that I was screaming about the burning hard pressure of a skull trying to push its way out of my body. Just like that, the nurses were begging me to breathe, I had dilated to a ten and the baby had crowned. I needed to hold him in until the doctor came back to catch the baby. At 6:02 am, Mateo was born. And, our world has not been the same since.