So seven years ago...

...at this moment, I was in the hospital, having been induced into labour. Silly baby was overdue and I had lost a lot of amniotic fluid...

Little did I know what the next 15 hours would bring:

• some of the most comfotable moments of being in peace with my body
• the worst pain I've ever experienced
• the discovery that yes, a kidney stone being lodged is much worse than being in labour
• love surrounding me from friends and family as I battled with nurses who refused to believe that it was anything more than a weak woman unable to handle pain
• immense relief as a doctor came in and uttered some magic words: "You've had kidney stones before? She knows what she's talking about, get her some pain relief!"
• the discovery that an epidural, while incredibly painful, is a grand thing
• the joy and comfort of knowing that my husband, who hates hospitals beyond anything else in the world, was willing to brave the OR to hold my hand
• the wonder of a new baby, my, our new baby, being brought into the world
• the humour of him peeing on a nurse...should've know what we were in for right there...
• the massive indignities of not being able to hold our baby, while my husband and mother were busy lifting various and sundry numb parts of me so a nurse could brusquely wash me down
• the amazement in Rob's face as he held this tiny and precious part of us
• the miracle of being a mother...

Wow...its been a fabulous trip so far, and I can only hope it gets even better.

Auspiciously (is that a word?) enough, Rob received an amazing review in the Globe and Mail tonight...and yes, despite what he says, he did stay up late just so he could repeatedly hit the refresh button. Now if only the Vancouver Sun would get their review online, we could actually get to bed!

Tomorrow is just an immediate family celebration - just the 3 of us. Xander plans on taking advantage of the free meal at Denny's (completely and 100% his idea), and wants to go out for breakfast. We're going to pack a picnic and warm clothes and blankets and head out to Butchart Gardens for the fireworks - always worth seeing, though we missed last year. And doubly good, since you can't use an annual pass to go on a fireworks night (Saturdays only, all summer), but you can upgrade your admission to a pass once you're in, and the cost of the pass is slightly less than paying to go once on a fireworks night and once at Christmas, when its amazingly beautiful with fancy light displays...If we don't go in the summer and get a pass, we inevitably skip the winter stuff too, so it's a double treat - immediate and down the road.

Anyways, I need to get to bed, so I can be up to celebrate with m'boys.

What an amazing 7 years its been! Here's to many, many, many more, just as wonderful and fun!