Just like clockwork, baby B has hit his first growth spurt. Infants typically experience a growth spurt around 7-10 days old, 3 weeks old, 6 weeks old, 3 months old, and 6 months old. Baby B is 9 days old today and has certainly decided to boost his eating in the last 24 hours. What does that mean for me?

A) I spent my day in my pretty pink robe because it has easier access for the boy.

B) I parked myself in my comfy chair for the majority of my day. 
C)  I was HUNGRY! I wanted to eat nonstop. So I pretty much did. A bowl of oats, a bowl of cereal, leftover brunswick stew, peanut butter + crackers, dark chocolate bar, Chobani yogurt, banana, and now a Subway sub for dinner.

In the midst of playing booby bar I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer to defrost for tonight’s planned dinner. Oops. Subway to the rescue. And I have a feeling there will be some sort of dessert tonight. This kid does not stop!

D) I was THIRSTY! I drank seven of my Camelbak water bottles today. That’s over 5 liters! I visited the porcelain chair the other chunk of my day.

And I did find out something exciting today. While the little man works on growing, my body has been shrinking. After my shower I decided to try on my pre-pregnancy jeans just to see how far I had to go to fit back into them. What do you know? They fit!

These jeans aren’t one of the many pairs I hope to wear as my final goal (jeans from my “happy place”), but I still call it a huge success. They may have a lot more muffin-top action going on because of my post-partum stomach, but I still think I look dang good. It certainly brought a smile to my face…though not as big a smile as all your congratulatory comments on FFF’s one year. Or the smile I get from cuddling this little guy…

Question of the Evening – What was the hungriest you have ever felt?

Good morning!! Yesterday easily made the top ten list of the best days of my life. I could not have been more excited to welcome my little man into the world. Then, to top it all off, I witnessed one of the most amazing outpourings of support. You all = amazing!!!! I read through every single comment, tweet, email, etc. Every single one brought at the very least a smile to my face and at times a tear of immense joy to my eyes.

I did get a lot of comments about being sure I rest up. Don’t you worry – cuddling baby B, getting into the swing of breastfeeding again, and resting filled the majority of my day. I will still continue to regularly blog, though, as it matters so much to me. I love sharing these experiences and having a special place of my own to commemorate them and express myself at the same time. I meant it when I said I’m not going anywhere. FFF will never surpass my family’s needs, but it is still certainly one of my own needs. So, without further ado, I’m here to share the (PG rated version) details of Baby B’s arrival! Quick and to the point…

It all started Monday morning as the “Snowpocalypse” of icy roads and snow had hit our state of Georgia overnight…

9:30 am – Called my mom and jokingly told her my water broke. I wanted to freak her out about not being able to drive up to watch M like we had planned. She knew I was kidding. I told her it wasn’t happening and went about my day as normal.

3:30 pm – Did a Turbo Jam workout DVD. Didn’t even start a single contraction.

4:30 pm – My sister called and warned me that I better not go into labor anytime in the next few days because she wouldn’t be able to drive to see us.

5:30 pm – Mild contractions started. They felt the same as always and I figured they would go away after a few hours. I paced the living room floor to see if that would make them stronger.

6:30 pm – Hmmmm. 7-8 mins apart. Feeling them pretty well, but I still don’t believe it will go anywhere.

7:45 pm – Standing at the counter helping finish dinner when suddenly…did I just wet myself?? No…I just went to the bathroom. But it wasn’t a HUGE gush like water breaking. Was it?

8:00 pm – Call the doctor. He tells me I need to come in because it sounds suspicious and likely water breaking.

8:00 – 8:30 pm – Run around packing up last minute things and things for M. Peter shovels our driveway to try and get out. Contractions start coming every 5 mins and stronger. Yep. This is real!

8:45 pm – Realize we aren’t getting out of the neighborhood. Neighbors come out and offer to help. They call the ambulance for us…because yes I had to take an ambulance. We figure out how to get M to my sister-in-law’s (who lives in the neighborhood).

9:15 pm – EMT truck shows up to pick me up and drive me to the front of our neighborhood. The ambulance picks me up there. Contractions are now 3 minutes apart, but I can still breathe through them okay.

9:45 pm – Get settled and checked in to my room. Find out I’m 4 cm dilated.

10:30 pm – Doctor decides I should go ahead and get the epidural, then have them finish breaking my water (apparently only the “pre-bag” broke before), then have the baby pronto.

10:45 pm – Get the epidural. I want it by this point with contractions every couple of minutes and starting to hurt bad!

11:00 pm – Water breaks on its own.

11:30 pm – Nurse checks me. I’m already almost 9 cm dilated. She tells me to watch for pressure.

12:15 am – Nurse comes in to check in on me and I’m ready.

12:20 am – He arrives! Yep…only 5 minutes of pushing. Quick and easy delivery!

Braedon just really wanted to have a fun 1/11/11 birthday and an exciting story to share – snow storms, ambulances, popping out in 5 minutes.I think he got what he wanted, don’t you?