Fifteen Years!

Fifteen years ago, Cees was born. It was a dark and stormy night, three weeks past my due date, and the midwife had sent me home with instructions of how to take castor oil. She told me to put it in strong coffee and gulp it down that way. I added lots of sugar to it, but it still wasn't very pleasurable.



The effects weren't very pleasurable either. I first thought nothing was happening, but later spent a lot of time in the bath room. I was sure the cramps I was feeling was labor, but when I called the midwife she didn't agree. She came, checked me out and told me to get a good nights of sleep, so I could get to the hospital the next morning to get induced. At that point I was not dilated at all yet. I figured I would be in for a long labor. Heck, I convinced myself I wasn't even in labor.



I went to bed. I tried to sleep. Really, I tried so hard. But bathroom breaks and contractions were keeping me awake. Very awake. I spent a lot of time screaming, and I knew this was going to be my last baby. No way I would ever go through this again!



Eventually I gave up and took a bath. This helped with the pain, but now things changed. I had to push! Not only that, but the bag of water bulged out every single time I pushed (or actually tried not to push).



Around 4:30am, the midwife came back, got me out of the bath on the bed, and in a few pushes Cees was born. OMG! I had a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Somehow the concept had been very unreal to me my whole pregnancy. I knew it with my head, but seeing him in person was very very very different.



His breathing sounded weird, lots of stridor, so we transported to the hospital. He spent two weeks there, and we found out he has laryngomalacia and tracheostenosis. Or a 'floppy larynx' and a narrowed airway in non-medical speak.



Breastfeeding him was not easy, I almost gave up in despair, but somehow it all worked out. He did throw up a lot, about seven or eight times a day for the first few years of his life. You have no idea how much laundry can get generated by such a small baby.



Now he is fifteen years old. And I had six other babies after all, so Cees's labor was not too traumatic ^^



He had a good birthday, lots of junk food and presents. I had bought special candles for his cake, the ones which relight themselves again when you blow them out. He made it even more funny by arranging them in a pentagram shape. Everyone was suitably impressed with the candles. I hadn't told anyone, so it quite a suprise and lots of hilarity.



We had dinner at McDonalds, where my kids did a great job of making a circus act of themselves. I am glad it wasn't too crowded. At some point, Erik jumped up and yelled something. Kate shushed him 'ERIK!!! YOu are so embarrassing!!!!' The bigger kids were making up all kinds of outrageous stories, it was... interesting.

Amazing how fast he grew up from the tiny baby to the teenager he is now. Time flies like bananas.