It's About Time!

No, our baby is not that over-due. Rather, it is this blog post that is sadly way slow in coming. I have sat down to type this post a hundred times over in the past... four weeks. Oye! And even now, it is a struggle. I am trying to consume an almost-cold tupperware container of last night's spaghetti, whilst entertaining a wiggly and prone-to-fuss newborn strapped to my chest. We shall see how long this lasts...

Ok. That was as far as I got initially. Max had different plans for us. Round #2. Baby eating. God bless the person who invented the Boppy pillow. It makes breastfeeding so much easier, plus I can attempt to get other things done at the same time!

As the story goes, our sweet baby Max came into the world five days early, on April 15, a big surprise to most of us. That day is now titled, "Max Day" instead of "Tax Day" in our house. The day began with a bang as my labor started at 1:30 am. Truth be told, I thought I had food poisoning for the first couple of hours. Back labor made me quite sick, and it took some time and research on Google to determine that I was indeed experiencing "early signs of true labor." God bless Google. I waited until 5:30 am to wake my sweet husband. I knew it might be a long day ahead of us, and at least one of us should be getting a good night's rest. I woke Joaquin up by saying, "Hey Babe, I think I need your help in timing my contractions..." He shot up with a sleepy smile and mumbled, "Alright!" In between contractions we scrambled to get ready to go to go. We had yet to get the carseat installed. The bags were halfway packed and not in the car. The house was in minor disarray. We needed to finish getting the guest room ready for my mom's visit. We had phone calls to make! At about noon or so, when I trusted that these contractions were not going away, we called Labor and Delivery. The nurse said to stay put until the contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart and at least 1 full minute in length. I coped with the pain that surged from my back around to my lower belly by bouncing on a birth ball, rocking in our glider, leaning over various pieces of furniture, and vacuuming. Our rugs were clean as could be by the time we left for the hospital. Before we got the okay from the L&D nurse to head to the hospital, I called mom. With great excitement, she packed her car in Sacramento, and drove to us in record time. Mom made it just prior to me starting to push. That was incredible. Upon our arrival to the hospital, my ideals of having an "all-natural" birth were but a distant thought, as I was so over the nausea caused by the contractions. I thought I may have been able to handle the pain better, if that icky-sicky feeling was not so very intense. When I was told that the epidural could help ease the nausea, I asked how quickly I could get one? Once we were checked into triage and it was discovered that I was very far along already (6 to 7 cm), we were told that they would order an epidural immediately. We had possibly the nicest anesthesiologist of all time, and once that pain medication kicked in, it was smooth sailing, for the most part. The epidural worked a little too well, and I had a hard time feeling to push... But sure enough, by God's grace, and after many fervent prayers, Maximo Joaquin Garcia entered the world kicking and screaming at 11:02 pm, weighing in at 7lbs 8oz, and 20 in long. The adventure toward parenthood had begun!

We are learning new things about our son each day. Max is such a precious gift, though he does give us a hard time of it pretty regularly:). He loves being held, being bounced, eating, taking cat naps, taking baths, and screaming between the hours of 7pm to 11pm. Joaquin and I are starting to learn what makes the lil guy happy and how to quiet him. My prayer life has increased dramatically. Not only do I regularly plead to God on behalf of my own sanity, but I also find myself praying a lot for Max... That he would grow up to be a righteous and passionate man, dedicated to the Gospel, and have a heart of compassion. I pray for Joaquin and I, that we would be good examples to Max of love and humility, and daily point him to Jesus. I pray that in spite of our foibles, and our sin, that Max would grow up seeing God at work in our lives... and it just starts there. If there is one thing I have quickly learned so far, it is of my own selfishness and need for a Savior. I am reminded of this every morning around 2am as our screaming infant demands to be fed. But oh, once he is, what a very sweet picture it is. His smiles, and stretches and squeals are enough to melt even the most stubborn of hearts.

Now for some photos...

Max loves his grammy.

Max loves his daddy.

More recently, my first Mother's Day...