A couple days after Stetson was born, I took him to the clinic in Lovell for his first “check-up.” Since this was my first baby, I didn’t know what to expect.
The first thing they told me to do was take ALL his clothes off so they could weigh him. Some of my thoughts were, “seriously, lady?? I just got him all dressed, do you know what a pain that is??” Plus I remember being really nervous because I was totally new at this and not only was it awkward and stressful to dress/undress him, I’d have a complete stranger (who could do a better job than me) breathing down my neck the whole time. So I take his clothes off, they weight him; doc comes in and said he probably has jaundice and so we head for the lab to have some blood work done. I’m sure I didn’t fully realize what was happening (even though I should have because the doc was very sympathetically patting my back as we left) until we got in the lab and the lab aide put his gloves on and started talking about drawing Stetson’s blood. My thoughts this time were sheer fear because I didn’t think I could watch this happen to my precious firstborn son, and because I couldn’t imagine them drawing blood out of something so little. Immediately after I realized what was about to happen, I lied and said I had to go to the bathroom thinking I could hide out there and miss the whole thing. So I did—I went out into the hall, asked the nearest person where the restroom was and stayed in there a minute or two. Then I went back to the lab and sat outside the room and cried while I listened to Stetson scream as they drew his blood. Michael had to be the strong one and hold him through all of it—he was sweating afterwards. At the next blood draw I had a little more bravery worked up because I held him that time (instead of hiding in the bathroom).
There is nothing in the world like being a first time mom—at least for me. It was the biggest roller coaster ride of my life, and as I read all these sweet posts about my friends having their new babies, I can’t help but go back to when Stetson and Kandace came into this world and the feelings that accompanied me that day.