I can’t believe it’s been 45 long days since little Wesley got pulled out of my guts! How awesome.

Of course he is an absolute delight. He wails, coos, makes little animal grunts, poops, pees, occasionally spits up, stares vacantly into space, drags himself like an inchworm & groans mournfully when put on his belly, flails his limbs wildly on occasion for no apparent reason, and tries to latch onto your nose when you kiss him.

Pretty much he’s a the epitome of adorable fabulous baby.

I’m back at work now and trying to get into the swing of a schedule that involves getting up three times a night to tend to a little creature that can’t control it’s bodily functions or feed itself. It sounds way worse than it actually is, to be honest. Getting up in the middle of the night IS painful, but it’s also totally balanced out by the awesomeness of having such a neet little science experiment living in my house.

His dramatic entrance into the world was pretty awesome too. I did end up having him via C-section, but despite many people seeming to hate the experience of surgical birth, I thought it was pretty awesome, and I really had a great time. Plus the drugs were AMAZING. And my insurance covered SO much of it- I’m not nearly as indebted to the hospital as I was afraid of. I was treated like a queen by the staff, and the people there were knowledgeable, no-pressure, and all around awesome. I think it’s a little unusual to say, but I had FUN having him. 13 hours of labor, 6 of unmedicated- then I finally broke down and got an epidural, then after another 7 my contractions just stopped- then I opted for a c-section, whcih I got to be concious for (weird and awesome), and which Hunter got to be there for. He even got to cut the umbillical cord!

I was terrified that I would be able to feel them cutting open my abdomen, but it just felt like tugging and shifting- there was no pain at all. Thank GOD for modern painkillers. Hunter got to hold him right away, and after they sewed me up I got wheeled into a temporary post surgery room and I got to meet my little creature. All in all the surgery lasted maybe 25 minutes- and I got to hold my baby RIGHT away after they were done with me- which was awesome. He was really alert and attentive- and had Apgar scores of 9/9- which is great. As soon as I was in the recovery room I got given a nice dose of Diloted, which left me empathizing with junkies. It was pretty much the best thing ever.

After that they took me to a private recovery room that I spent the next three days in. It had its own bathroom, HGTV, decent food, an adjustable bed, I was pretty constantly high, and I got waited on hand and foot, so I was a truly happy camper.

Wes had to spend two days in the nursery because of low blood sugar, but I got to visit him whenever I wanted to- and even he had his own room there, so we had plenty of privacy when we visited him. I probably could have slept there but I took advantage of the last two full nights of sleep I’d be getting in forever.

Hunter was AMAZING throughout. He was absolutely the best support I could imagine, and treated me like a goddess. I’ve come to expect that now, and I wasn’t at all surprised, just really intensely grateful and filled with squishy love and a feeling of incredible good fortune, and knowledge that he was going to be the best dad ever.

on an interesting side note, I got my bill and…

Price of 4 days in the hospital- 13 hours in a labor room followed by major abdominal surgery, followed by 3+ days in a private recovery room, two days in 24 hour care nursery for Wesley, a battery of tests, my pertussis vaccine, lactation consultants, visits from multiple doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants, and a ton of drugs…. FIFTY EIGHT GRAND

Price after insurance: TWO grand

I cannot even imagine not having insurance. WOW. That’s fucking INSANE. I’m SO glad I have the coverage that I do.

 America’s healthcare pricing system is totally nuts.

In totally unrelated news, I FINALLY published my novel, The Golden Empress.