Micah

This past weekend Micah turned 6 years old.

Hmmmmm.......

What can I even say about this? My thoughts are scattered.

Since his birthday fell on a "daddy day" and he would be migrating by around 10am, we decided to celebrate with a breakfast of french toast and bacon. There was powdered sugar, whipped cream and even some blueberry syrup to start the day off in sweet sticky style. The kids set "fancy" glasses (stem wear) at the table and we sipped our pineapple orange juice while toasting Micah's life and reminiscing about his actual birth. Although Micah got to choose the menu for this morning affair, he could barely make his way through one slice. I think he was a little bit excited about opening his presents. His favorite gift by far was a new Indiana Jones Lego set that he and Finn finished assembling yesterday afternoon. Even Oscar was drawn to it.

My water broke spontaneously the afternoon before Micah was born. I was at home with Maija, who was 4 at the time, and we had just gotten back from school. I remember how excited I was even though I hadn't actually started having any contractions yet. The hospital still wants you to come in right away for fear of infection, and so that's what we did. I was admitted by 5pm and spent the evening roaming the halls of the hospital in an attempt to get things moving along as naturally as possible. I'd like to say that I avoided any interventions but that was not the case as I did wind up with a Pitocin drip since my labor wasn't progressing fast enough. Looking back, I cringe a little bit about this, seeing as how I wasn't even there THAT long before they started hinting around about giving me something to "help" speed things up a bit. Pitocin and I are not on very friendly terms, and I will never allow it to influence another birthing process of mine again. By 5:25am I was broken, defeated, and I asked (begged would be more appropriate) for an epidural. I never had one with Maija, but the Pitocin was making my labor with Micah nearly impossible to handle. The Anesthesiologist came into the room at 5:30am but it didn't matter since Micah was born not even 2 minutes later, no epidural necessary. I didn't trust myself, I didn't listen to my body clearly and I didn't speak up for myself loudly enough to be heard. I finally blurted out that I needed to push and the nurse took one look, saw Micah crowning and told me to "wait" in her best "please stay calm voice" possible before dashing to the door to yell "I need some HELP IN HERE" down the hallway to anyone who could hear her in a not so calm voice. The Anesthesiologist was long gone. A nurse and an intern were there when he rushed into the world (an intern who pulled his little head with questionable force...bygones) and we were soon joined by a roomful of medical staff who all clambered about getting things set up and plugged in and pulled out of closets and shelves. I don't remember too much about that part, just that he was here, finally here.

Here's what I do remember, Micah was very quiet immediately after being born, and not quiet in the scary something might be wrong sense, but just quiet in a more serene and tranquil sense. Although this may have been a little bit of faulty advertising on his part, because he hasn't really been quiet ever since and that's OK because we love him just the way he is. He's our wild man, our full speed ahead risk taker, and I wouldn't have it any other way even if it's exhausting at times, even if it gives me a million mini heart attacks. He is well on his way to something bigger than we could ever have imagined and I can hardly wait to see what it is!