An Early Birthday Party

It was four years ago on Tuesday that my youngest son finally made an appearance in the world - after 22 long hours of labor. Yes, I know labor is suppose to get SHORTER, mine only got longer. I was induced for all & I really feel, in hindsight, that my labor times directly corresponded to how aggressive my doctors would be about the process.

I went in at 8am on the morning of January 14th to have J. He finally arrived at 6:38am on January 15th during an extremely cold snap in the state that lasted almost the whole week we were in the hospital.

Since I'm a diabetic, my blood sugars affect the babies. I was diabetic for my last two. N did very well after he was born & we were only in the hospital a couple of days. It took J about 3-4 days to finally get his blood sugar to stabilize without help (i.e. glucose solution). By that point he had developed severe jaundice so he spent quite a bit of time sunbathing in his isolet. And to top it all off, he had a heart murmur as well. It was a rough week. Although, I was very thankful that it was all fixable. Even his heart murmur which ended up repairing itself & now is a non-issue. I had a 10 lb 3 oz baby (yes, he was big) in the NICU & I saw many other teeny, tiny babies who had arrived far earlier than they should have fighting for their lives.


Today I have an amazing four year old son who makes me laugh pretty much every day. He's been very verbal from a young age. He was speaking in complete (and clear) sentences since he was about 18 months old. I've said many a time that you never had to guess what J was thinking - he would just tell you. I'm truly blessed to have this sweet little boy full of hugs & kisses.

Just like N, J loves trains. It may be simply because N & J share a room and thus toys as well. J asked for a train cake. I bought a pan last year since between the two of them, that's typically what they ask for. Now it's just a matter of what train they want it decorated to look like. My MIL is fantastic about decorating the cakes for them.

We sent over the pan & a model for her this morning. J wanted a "Stanley" train but since I knew Stanley was grey, I made him pick either Thomas, Percy or James. He chose James. James is the red engine. And, as both N & J were quick to pick up on, James is also the #5 engine. ::grin:: However, since J is turning 4 that is what my MIL put on the train. It was quite comical.

All you have to do with either of the boys is list a number and they'll tell you the engines name or the engines name & they can tell you the color & number. It's a bit scary. ::grin::

J had a "helper" while opening his gifts. N was sure J would be getting new trains & accessories so I think he wanted to stay close - just in case of course.

J had a great party. He was too excited to eat much though. I learned my lesson though. He woke up at 3am this morning crying (he literally said, "I can't take it anymore!") that his tummy hurt. After a couple of plain crackers and some water he settled back down to sleep. However, I was fully awake at this point. ::sigh:: He did take a nap this am as did I, but I'm certainly feeling the early morning at this point. More important though, J is feeling just fine & is playing with his new toys.