Tuesday, December 9, 2008

ah, epidurals


"The only way I can compare not getting an epidural with getting one is like this: not getting an epidural is like being hit by a Mack truck; getting one is like sitting in a truck stop eating a grilled cheese sandwich."

-Nicole Hefner

dear beauty,

my sweet girl, you have made my year with this quote! try living in boulder, home of the flaming doula, and see if you don't ostracize yourself when you say things like, "natural birth? not me. i'm ordering my epidural like a latte."

and order it i did at, like, seven centimeters. carol ann, the traveling nurse, thought i was crazy but i didn't much care about what someone named carol ann thought at that particular moment. i needed to be in control. because, you know, i was not necessarily in control the year before when i was ocho-ing my body at the manhattan dance studio with kevin at tango lessons. and i was most certainly not in control when i ate an entire apple pie on my lunch break in the broom closet at the westin westminster. but god dammit, i was going to take the reigns when it came to having this child.

so i pumped the button on that epidural like a duke university student on final jeopardy. i then proceeded to watch a frank lloyd wright documentary and thought long and hard about the merits of organic architecture. let's face it, i got housed. then i had a baby and it was a girl and i was in love and then i passed out.

i woke up a few minutes later to my sweet bird and a plate of mashed potatoes and gravy. your mama was right to cry. and you were right to hit the button.who cares anyway, we'll have their whole lives to prove our mettle.

love you,

kate

1 comment:

Nicole Callihan said...

Love you!!! Love our birds!!! Love that freaking epidural!