8 Weeks: The Worth It Kind of Pain

This week I was blessed enough to be at the hospital the day my niece Hallaway was born.  I finished the day with two resonating thoughts: 

1. Having a baby has got to be the hardest, most painful thing I will ever do.

2. It is going to be totally worth it.

I was so excited when my brother in law sent me the "this is it" text and I packed up my laptop and raced to the hospital.  I headed straight to the room when I got to the hospital, and walked in while Jessie was having a contraction.  I will spare you the details, but she was in a world of obvious pain.  

I cannot handle seeing people in pain -  the main reason I became a pharmacist and not a doctor.  Seeing someone I love, someone who I want to protect, in pain - even worse.  I was so relieved when the contraction ended and Jessie finally looked up at me, gave me a weak smile, and said, "Hey."  We were able to joke around a little bit and even snap a picture of both of our pregnant bellies before the next contraction started.

Jess at 41ish weeks, me at almost 8 weeks.  

The contractions continued to come, and I soon realized that I would not be able to handle being in the room much longer, and I am sure that they didn't want me in there much longer either.  My sister was so strong the entire time I was in the room.  How am I ever going to be that strong?  I would be begging for an epidural 5 minutes into the whole ordeal.  

I remember Jessie looking up after one of her contractions and saying, "this is going to be a long day."  

And it was a long day.  But it ended in the best kind of way.

Holding a new born baby, seeing the way she brought their family together, our family together, knowing that I was going to be blessed enough to start my own family soon.  Pure happiness.

Other updates: I am not feeling much different than last week ,except I am much more tired, which I didn't think was possible.  I am sleeping at least 10 hours a night, and continue to drift off to sleep on the couch in the early evening.  I also can't stand the thought of eating any sort of vegetable at dinnertime.  I really can't stand the thought of making dinner at dinnertime.  

I obviously can't live like this until December, so something has got to give.  I am determined to push through.  I can't wait until we tell more people, so I can get actual advice and stop turning to Dr. Google.