June 13, 2005

It was the day that would change our lives forever. On June 13, 2005 at 1:50 p.m. Joshua Andrew Maple was born, weighing 8 lbs 11 oz and measuring a whopping 23 inches long.

Joshua was due on June 5, 2005. But he decided to be a stubborn little guy and hang out an extra week. When he hadn't arrived by June 10, my doctor scheduled me to be induced on June 13th (which by the way, I had predicted would be his birthday months before). But Josh was going to come into the world in his own way, on his terms! I went into labor on June 12th, about mid day. When we realized what was going on, we did what any first time parent would do when they started having regular contractions.... we went to the mall! I knew that walking around was the best thing for me, and it was 105 degrees outside so that sounded like the best plan because we didn't want to go to the hospital any sooner than absolutely necessary. After walking through the mall for a hour or two we went and rented a couple movies. I was more comfortable standing up, so I made us a dinner of scrambled eggs and toast and we watched one of our movies. After cruising up and down the hallway while Andrew tried to get some sleep, we finally decided to go to the hospital at 1:00 a.m. Good thing, because I was 6 cm dilated and my water was going to break any minute.

Although I was progressing through labor quite nicely (with the help of an epidural of course!) Joshua was not dropping, so they were flipping me over like a pancake every half hour to try to coax him into position. Finally at 11:30 a.m. I started pushing. I pushed and pushed and was getting nowhere. It sounds bad, but really it was all pretty lighthearted and fun. We were joking with the nurses between contractions and just generally enjoying the experience. My doctor came in at 1:00 and broke up the party, saying that Josh just wasn't going to fit because, although he was head down, he was not facing the right direction. So we decided to go ahead with the c-section. I was sad that I couldn't have him the way we had planned, but at the end of the day, as long as I had a healthy baby boy, everything would be okay. At 1:50 he was born, and he was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. Right from birth he had those BIG beautiful eyes. They were one of the first things we noticed about him. I'll never forget his squeaky little cry from those first few days which earned him the nickname J-Bird (hence our blog address j-birdsnest).

Here we are, 4 years later. Looking at this big boy, it's hard to believe that he is the same little baby we brought home from the hospital those years ago. I can honestly say that Joshua is one of the coolest, most special people I have ever known. He has such a sweet and loving spirit about him. I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Happy birthday, Joshua. Mommy and Daddy love you so much, and we can't wait to see what this year brings for you!