The Night Before

I never really had a chance to write about it, but parts of the night before Zeke was born are very clear in my mind. Aaron and I had a late dinner at Agave, a nice Southwestern restaurant close by. I hadn't been feeling very well...for reasons that became perfectly obvious in about six hours. The weather was spring like though a little cool, and I even remember the light outfit I was wearing and where we sat on the outdoor patio. We both had the tuna dish and I think we split the chocolate mousse with creme anglaise. It was a lovely evening and now is a fond memory of what my family was on Sunday, March 12, 2006. I still smile to think of it.

Fast forward a few hours to after midnight and I am sitting in the nursery/my office in front of my computer multitasking by simultaneously doing office work (!) and revising my birth plan (!!) when my water breaks. What a bewildering four hours followed -- I (re)packed my hospital bag, the animals were following me all around the house in the commotion, I called the spa to cancel the manicure that I desperately wanted before Zeke's scheduled birth at the end of that week, of course all followed by my first surgery and the my first birth! Some of it I can look back on with some humor. For example, I laugh when I think about the anesthesiologist who assumed I had high blood pressure through my pregnancy. I have never had high blood pressure a day in my life other than right then. I reminded him that it was 3 AM, I had not slept since the day before, I was sitting almost naked in a cold o.r. for my first surgery for my first child, I was in labor, and my husband was in another room while I was being prepped. Taking all those things into thoughtful consideration, he answered something like, "Oh, yes, that is stressful. That could cause the high blood pressure you have right now." Yes, folks, the measured opinion of a medical expert! Many aspects of that night/early morning were tremendously stressful for me. (Hello, postpartum hormones!) Honestly, I still wince that most of my memories of those next few days were not of the warm fuzzy variety and are not ones I cherish. However, motherhood got infinitely better moving forward from each of those days and I have more than enough warm memories to cherish from the past two years to get past those first ones. And, I always felt lucky that we had such a nice night out as a couple AND that I had a nice meal before surgery. If anyone had known I was going into labor, I would have been restricted from eating. Plus, I didn't get to eat for almost a whole day after and then only clear broth!

In 2007, the night before Zeke's birthday we returned to Agave as a celebration of our new family a year in. Zeke was so well behaved and sat with his grandmother for a good part of the dinner, sharing her salmon. I think we even had the same waiter as in 2006. It was another lovely March 12.

Now in 2008, we moved by slight degrees away from this newly minted tradition: we went to Redfish, a restaurant a block over but owned by the same person. Again, Zeke was so well behaved, especially for a two year at a nice restaurant! He even got his own dinner, though he again sampled some of his grandmother's dish. Trish had come in only a few hours before and Zeke had been acting shy in front of her. Halfway through dinner, though, he asked from help down from his seat and walked around the table and demanded to sit in her lap for the rest of the evening.

I love seeing these pictures together and am looking forward to adding 2009 to them. (Eventually -- who's in any hurry?) Maybe next March 12, Zeke will let Trish eat in peace...